Driver in deadly Glenbrook DUI crash waives hearing
The driver accused of crossing the center line on Highway 50 while intoxicated, killing 24-year-old Carson City resident Brian A. Vasquez-Gonzalez, is scheduled to be arraigned in district court on June 1.
Stephen Michael Pawlowski, 65, appeared in Tahoe Township Justice Court on Thursday where he waived a preliminary hearing on felony charges of vehicular homicide and driving under the influence with substantial bodily injury. Vasquez-Gonzalez’s friends and family were in court on Thursday, filling two rows in the courtroom.
Pawlowski was taken into custody after the March 20, 2025, collision.
He posted $1 million bail in June 2025 but was taken back into custody after a transdermal device he was required to wear as a condition of bail indicated he’d been drinking.
Not long after his July 12, 2025, re-arrest, attorney Alexandra Dyer sought a continuance to have him evaluated for competence.
He was found competent earlier this year and ordered to under go preliminary examination at Lake Tahoe.
According to court documents, Pawlowski was in Stateline having a breakfast of sliders, a beer and a shot of tequila after spending a night at various casinos in Reno. He was asked to leave after he nodded off at the bar.
One witness said he had to dodge Pawlowski’s silver Tacoma that was driving east down the middle of the westbound lanes just before the 7 a.m. crash.
Crash investigators found footage of Pawlowski drinking in two Reno bars around midnight before the collision.
Pawlowski was allegedly arrested for having a .183 blood alcohol content by the University of Nevada, Reno, police around two weeks before the fatal collision. He was under supervision by Washoe County courts. He’d allegedly tested positive for alcohol while under supervision on March 17 and 18, 2025.
