Native student struggling
with alcohol dies in accident

by Jim Walsh and Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX — Byron Yellowhair majored in American Indian studies in college and harbored hopes of returning home to the Navajo Nation as a teacher, his friend Che Laughing recalled Thursday.

He was proud of his Native American heritage and would “tie drums, “ attaching pieces of leather to them, with his cousin so they could play them, Laughing said.

But during his 24 years, Yellowhair also experienced struggles with alcohol and anger, police and court records show. He had at least one arrest for driving under the influence and had been placed on probation for two separate convictions of aggravated assault on a police officer.

Yellowhair got out of his vehicle early Thursday on a stretch of Interstate 10 near 24th Street. He was struck and killed by oncoming vehicles.

“Byron was a good guy,” Laughing, 23, said inside a dimly lit, sparsely furnished Mesa apartment that she shared with Yellowhair and his cousin. “He was very kind, loving and very good-hearted.”

Alcohol kept getting in the way of Yellowhair’s dreams, she said.

Yellowhair was arrested twice on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. In April 2007, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of aggravated assault stemming from a January incident where he struck a police officer at a Mesa bar.

The officer went to the scene after Yellowhair called 911 to report a shooting. Police found no evidence of one, but workers told police that Yellowhair was being disruptive and had been asked to leave.

“Subject has drinking problem and is a danger to public and law enforcement,” the officer wrote in court documents.

At the time, he was on probation for assaulting an officer in May 2006. He was accused of pushing the officer, who tried to intervene in a dispute between Yellowhair and another person.

Court records show Yellowhair was arrested Oct. 2 on suspicion of DUI. Police said his blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Laughing said that she and Yellowhair’s cousin became worried when Yellowhair didn’t return home Wednesday night.

Laughing said she shudders when she thinks about the last terrible moments of his life.

She said she believes Yellowhair was scared and possibly intoxicated. And she wished he still had a cellphone to call for help. He no longer had one because he couldn’t afford the costs and had just gotten off house arrest, Laughing said.

“I’m just really devastated by what happened,” Laughing said. “I just wish I could have done more to help him.”

Then, noting that she suffers from an enlarged heart and just had a defibrillator installed in her chest earlier this month, she said, “Why couldn’t (Byron) have another chance?”