ID'd: Motorist fatally hit by suspected drunken driver in St. Paul

Authorities on Thursday identified a motorist who was hit and killed this week in St. Paul by a suspected drunken driver who admitted to police at the scene that he had been drinking despite being underage, according to newly filed court records.

Mark J. O'Gara, 52, of St. Paul, died at the scene of the two-vehicle crash early Wednesday south of the St. Paul Downtown Airport near Concord and Page streets.

Jose O. Vasquez Guillen, 19, was jailed on suspicion of criminal vehicular homicide based on signs of intoxication, police said. A search warrant affidavit filed by police alleges that Vasquez Guillen admitted to "consuming multiple alcoholic beverages before driving."

The same affidavit cites witnesses reporting that Vasquez Guillen was speeding immediately before the collision.

Also, there is no record that Vasquez Guillen, who lives in St. Paul, has ever held a Minnesota driver's license.

Blood was drawn from Vasquez Guillen about two hours after the crash, and it is being tested to determine his degree of intoxication that night. Test results are pending.

Vasquez Guillen, who has not been charged, was driving a Honda southeast on Concord that hit a Saturn as it was leaving a driveway to head northwest onto Concord about 1:30 a.m., police said.

Fire paramedics arrived and freed O'Gara from behind the wheel of the Saturn and treated him for his injuries, but he died at the scene.

Vasquez Guillen was taken to Regions Hospital with noncritical injuries.