photo by: Journal-World File Photo

In this file photo from Aug. 4, 2020, a Lawrence Police Department patrol vehicle is pictured outside the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Lawrence man has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder after a fatal New Year’s Day crash.

The man, Adrian Joel Martinez, 38, of Lawrence, was arrested around 8:15 p.m. Monday on suspicion of second-degree murder and DUI aggravated battery for a crash that killed James Henderson Jr., 20, and seriously injured two others, said Lt. David Ernst with the Lawrence Police Department.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, around 12:15 a.m. New Year’s Day, police officers responded to the head-on collision in the 2500 block of West Sixth Street, near Sixth and Crestline Drive. Ernst said preliminary information about the accident suggested that it happened when a westbound vehicle crossed the center line and collided with an eastbound vehicle.

No bond has been set for Martinez. The case has been forwarded to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office for charging consideration, Ernst said.

photo by: Submitted

James Henderson Jr.

Henderson grew up in Tonganoxie but lived in Lawrence at the time of his death. His grandmother, calling him JJ, described him to the Journal-World a few days after his death as a “happy-go-lucky” young man who loved video games and technology.

“He made everyone around him happy,” she said. “He was just one of the guys who brought light into everybody’s world.”