Las Cruces police arrested the man suspected of Friday’s crash into a motel that injured a man and caused the death of a 55-year-old woman.
Source: City of Las Cruces
About 11:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, 22-year-old Alan Leyva-Vasquez reversed a Chevrolet Suburban into a room at the Imperial Sky Motel at 1865 W. Picacho Ave. A 59-year-old man inside the room suffered relatively minor injuries in the crash while 55-year-old Kari J. Scholin succumbed to her injuries on scene.
Leyva-Vasquez was arrested Friday afternoon and booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center. He is charged with one felony count of vehicular homicide. He is initially being held without bond.
Imperial 400 Motels
Wikipedia: Imperial 400 was an American motel chain. It was founded in 1959 by Bernard Whitney in Los Angeles, California. Its properties were typically two-story buildings with “gull wing” shaped roofs over the lobby. It was a limited-service hotel chain, competing mainly with Travelodge.[1]
In 1965, Imperial 400 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[2]Its headquarters were moved to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and again to Arlington, Virginia. By the 1980s, the chain was sold to Interpart S.A., a Luxembourg-based company, and was later dissolved.[1] Imperial 400 structures still exist but usually rundown motels, with exception of a few. In Richland, WA a former Imperial is boarded and set to be demolished for new apartments.
According to the website, RoadsideArchitecture.com, “[t]he first Imperial 400 Motel was built in Los Angeles in 1959. After that, this nationwide chain boasted of building a new location every ten days in its first year.” They are still recognized as examples of typical mid-century modern architecture. More information about Imperial 400 Motels can be found at the following two links:
![Shopping Cart Ordinance Among Most Read Stories in 2024 [#10]](https://lascrucesdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/d4232c98-4af6-9a7d-cda9-ccc2add08ae6.jpg)