BATON ROUGE - Louisiana State Police say they arrested a man on a vehicular homicide charge after the passenger of a vehicle he was driving while under the influence crashed into a guardrail in East Baton Rouge Parish.

33-year-old Sean Hopkins was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail on charges of vehicular homicide, reckless operation and driving with a suspended license after his release from the hospital. His passenger, 32-year-old Christopher Holeman, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash by the EBR Coroner’s Office.

Troopers said Hopkins was traveling westbound on LA 30 in a Dodge minivan at a high rate of speed when his vehicle veered off the roadway, striking a concrete guardrail before coming to rest in the tree line.

According to State Police, neither Hopkins or Holeman were wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. Hopkins suffered serious injuries during the wreck, and was taken to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center for treatment. The passenger, Holeman, suffered fatal injuries.

The arrest report says a Trooper noted beer cans and an unopened bottle of booze on the ground as he approached the wreckage of the single-vehicle wreck. According to the Trooper, Hopkins smelled strongly of alcohol and was going in and out of consciousness as the crash scene was first being processed. The passenger in Hopkins’ vehicle, who was wedged into the passenger seat, remained unresponsive. Hopkins remained incoherent and still smelled strongly of alcohol by the time he was receiving medical aid at OLOL Regional Medical Center.

A toxicology sample was taken from Hopkins and submitted to the LSP Crime Lab for analysis.