Teen charged in deadly downtown McAllen crash ran red light, affidavit says

The 18-year-old woman accused in a major crash in downtown McAllen early Saturday morning was speeding and ran a red light prior to hitting a concrete barrier causing her vehicle to rollover.
The crash killed Jacob Roel Rodriguez, 25, and sent five other people — all aged 18 to 25 — to the hospital with injuries ranging in severity.
Gabriela Nunez Garcia, the driver, is charged with intoxication manslaughter and five counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle causing serious bodily injury.
She was booked into the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center Tuesday and bailed out on $100,000 in bonds on Wednesday, jail records show.
The affidavit for her arrest said police were called to the 1600 block of N. Bicentennial Boulevard at 2:08 a.m. that morning in reference to a major crash involving a 2024 Ford Bronco.
Police immediately began conducting first aid and identifying the occupants.
Nunez was trapped in the driver seat with her seat belt on. A detective cut her seat belt off and extracted her from the vehicle.
“All occupants to the Ford Bronco were transported to local hospitals with apparent severe injuries,” the affidavit stated.
Another detective headed to the South Texas Health System McAllen where he learned Rodriguez died from his injuries at 3:18 a.m.
That detective said in the affidavit that he had briefly spoken with one of the crash victims who told him that she only knew Rodriguez and that all of them had been drinking alcohol at a bar called Noxx Nightclub in the downtown McAllen Entertainment Cultural Overlay District, according to the affidavit.

Other officers also suspected that Nunez was intoxicated.
Surveillance video recovered by investigators showed that the Ford Bronco driven by Nunez was driving at a high rate of speed on N. Bicentennial Boulevard when she ran a red light before hitting the concrete barrier, causing the vehicle to roll over.
Some of the injuries the victims sustained included one person with a fractured spine and neck. Another individual was intubated and had a brain bleed. One victim was in surgery for a fractured spine, lumbar and has pending other surgeries for a fractured leg. Another woman needed surgery on her spine while a man needed hand surgery and one woman was being evaluated for a lumbar fracture.
Following the crash, McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos took to Facebook and called for aid from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
The crash follows increasing concerns from the city of McAllen about underage drinking tied to 17th Street prompting a crackdown on bars in the area over the summer by filing lawsuits against establishments the city accused of operating without the proper permits.
That process resulted in more than $11,000 in fines.
The post Teen charged in deadly downtown McAllen crash ran red light, affidavit says appeared first on MyRGV.com.

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