18-year-old driver arrested after passenger killed in West Price Hill crash

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - An 18-year-old man is under arrest in a fatal crash that killed his passenger last week in West Price Hill, court records show.

Abeldardo Mendez lost control of a 2016 Chevrolet Equinox as he drove "at a very high rate of speed" on West 8th Street and the SUV struck a parked dump truck.

As a result, the passenger had to be extricated from the vehicle by the Cincinnati Fire Department and was pronounced dead on the scene, police wrote in an affidavit.

Impairment and excessive speed were being investigated as contributing factors to the crash, police said at the time of the crash.

"The collision was captured by a nearby home surveillance camera which (showed Mendez) traveling at a high rate of speed at impact with the parked vehicle." He also didn't have a valid driver's license at the time of the collision."

Mendez was seriously hurt and taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

He was booked into the Hamilton County jail on a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide around 3:47 p.m. Sunday.

Mendez was held without bond and will make his first court appearance in the case on Monday.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office is still working to identify the passenger who was pronounced dead at the scene, police wrote in court records.