Intoxicated driver sentenced for SE Portland crash that killed 11-year-old: Court docs

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A man who was intoxicated and erratically driving with gunshot wounds was sentenced to prison earlier in October for his role in a Southeast Portland crash that killed an 11-year-old boy, according to court documents.

The driver, now-31-year-old Duprie Darien Smith, was sentenced Oct. 10 to more than a year-and-a-half in prison with three years of post-prison supervision for criminally negligent homicide. Smith also had his driver’s license revoked.

The case goes back to July 8, 2023, around 10:20 p.m. when Portland police responded to a crash on SE 102nd Avenue and SE Washington St., where an SUV driven by Smith T-boned a sedan.

Court documents state that the SUV crashed into the sedan’s passenger side, causing the sedan to “rebound off a light pole.”

On the scene, officers learned that Smith was ejected from his vehicle but sustained no injuries related to a crash, however he was suffering from unrelated gunshot wounds to his arm and leg, according to an affidavit. Smith was taken to the hospital for his injuries and had a BAC test result of 0.116.

Meanwhile, the sedan had three occupants, including 11-year-old Ryan Ambrose, who was in the backseat during the crash. Officers performed CPR on Ambrose until paramedics arrived at the scene, however, he died in the hospital, according to authorities.

During the investigation into the crash, authorities watched dashcam footage from Smith’s SUV, which started at the time of the shooting that presumably led to his gunshot wounds, court documents state.

The footage showed Smith getting into the SUV, driving erratically and making statements such as “’where is a hospital?” and “I am going to die,” court records state.

Smith was then seen on the camera weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed, running several red lights, hitting a curb and nearly crashing before blowing through a red light and ultimately T-boning the sedan, according to court documents.

The Airbag Control Module of Smith’s SUV showed he was driving over 80 miles per hour seconds before the crash, the affidavit claims.

“Notably, (Smith) was traveling at such a high rate of speed, that after the impact at SE Stark, his vehicle flipped over and still traveled an entire city block, coming to rest at SE Washington. The speed limit on SE 102^nd Avenue at SE Stark is 30 MPH,” the affidavit states.

In August 2023, Smith pleaded guilty to several charges including first-degree manslaughter, driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, assault, reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person.

In July 2025, some charges were dropped, and Smith was also later acquitted of other charges such as DUII and recklessly endangering another person. By August 2025, Smith was convicted of criminally negligent homicide.