Young couple and daughter among 5 killed in drunk driver’s wrong way crash: cops

A young couple and their daughter were among five people killed when a suspected drunk driver slammed head-on into their car while driving the wrong way on an Arizona highway, according to authorities.

Jason Ortiz was driving his wife, Madeline, and their young daughter, Jennilee, around 2 a.m. Saturday when a Jeep raced at them on the wrong side of US 93 and hit their Hyundai head-on, according to AZ Family.

Both vehicles burst into flames, killing everyone involved — the Ortizes as well as two men in the car that hit them, the report said.

The Jeep driver is suspected of being drunk, officials said, without identifying him or his male passenger.

“I just wish that [people] wouldn’t drink and drive. You know?” said Jason Ortiz’s heartbroken best friend, Ryan Ronts.

 “It’s just devastating. I don’t think a lot of people realize the impacts of what they do until after it happens. I hope they died on impact and not like burned, you know, that would be really horrible,” he added grimly

His pal “was a really nice guy and he was … a hard worker,” Ronts said,

The crash follows an alarming trend of intoxicated drivers in Arizona, officials there noted..

Last year, from just January to May, there were five deadly wrong-way crashes with seven people killed in the Grand Canyon State. 

So far in 2025, there have been four deadly wrong-way crashes, with eight people killed — with impairment a factor in nearly all of them, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bart Graves.