Right from the start, Fairfax County police said alcohol was one of the factors contributing to a Dec. 13, single-car crash that killed a 27-year-old Chantilly man. And according to a document filed two days later in Circuit Court, the car's driver allegedly admitted drinking prior to the accident.
The victim was the front-seat passenger, Thomas Edward Bolt Jr. of the Brookside community. Charged with involuntary manslaughter was the driver, Gregory Park Moldenhauer, 25, of 9334 Tartan View Drive in Fairfax.
DET. CLINTON E. BEACH, a member of the police department's Crash Reconstruction Unit, presented details of the tragedy in a Dec. 13 affidavit for a warrant to obtain a vial of Moldenhauer's blood for testing. In it, he wrote that, when Moldenhauer was taken to a hospital after the accident, he refused to let anyone take a blood sample from him.
The crash occurred around 12:30 a.m. Moldenhauer was driving a four-door, 2003 Acura RSX north on Walney Road, near E.C. Lawrence Park. But as he approached Walney Park Drive, said police, he lost control of the car, crossed over the southbound lanes, struck an embankment and slammed into a tree.
Beach was dispatched to the scene, around 1:30 a.m. Upon arrival, he discovered the silver Acura, lying on its passenger side, pressed up against the tree. Bolt was identified as the passenger and was confirmed dead by county Fire Department personnel.
Bolt wasn't wearing a seatbelt, but rescue workers found Moldenhauer buckled in his seat. When Beach arrived, Moldenhauer had already been Medevaced to Inova Fairfax Hospital for treatment of non-lifethreatening injuries.
However, wrote the detective, "The driver made statements to Flight Police Medic Mark Smith and Flight Police Medic Paul Dehaven during the flight to the hospital. Mr. Moldenhauer [reportedly] told the medics that he was out for his buddy's birthday and that he had a few drinks. The flight medics also stated that he [allegedly] had a strong odor of alcohol coming from his mouth."
BEACH ADDED that further investigation at the scene indicated that the Acura had reportedly been traveling on Walney Road "at a high rate of speed." After the driver lost control, he wrote, "the vehicle ... rotated counterclockwise, [as] indicated by two skid marks and one gouge mark at the scene." Beach noted, as well, that "a bottle of liquor in a brown bag" was allegedly discovered at the crash scene behind the vehicle.
Beach stated that Moldenhauer allegedly "refused to give a sample of his blood" while at the hospital. "It is therefore [my] belief that Gregory Moldenhauer [allegedly] has a measurable quantity of alcohol and/or other self-administered intoxicant in his blood," wrote the detective in his warrant. "A sample of such blood would [reportedly] constitute evidence of the commission of the crime of involuntary manslaughter."
A county magistrate then approved the warrant and, at 4:58 a.m. — approximately 3 1/2 hours after the accident — police obtained a vial of Moldenhauer's blood. He was arrested three days later, Dec. 16, and charged with involuntary manslaughter.
He was released from the Adult Detention Center, Dec. 18, on $5,000 bond and has a Feb. 4 court date. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a possible maximum of 10 years in prison.