Belinda Cerros, Elmer Vazquez, Beverly Navarro, Efrain Vasquez, 3 Injured in Car Accident in Irving, TX
UPDATE (April 12, 2022): Sources identified two additional victims involved in the accident. They were reportedly 24-year-old Beverly Navarro and 47-year-old Efrain Vasquez. Right now, additional details about the accident are unavailable.
Irving, TX -- March 5, 2022, Belinda Cerros, Elmer Vazquez, and five others were injured due to an accident which may have involved drunk driving.
Authorities said that the crash took place at around 9:50 p.m. along Story Road near Cameron Place. In preliminary reports, officials said that a 19-year-old was in a Chevy Silverado traveling northbound on Story Road in the southbound lanes. As a result, the pickup crashed head-on with a southbound Chevy Impala.
Due to the collision, the driver and five others in the Impala had reportedly incapacitating injuries. Two of the passengers were identified as Belinda Ceros and Elmer Vazquez. From the pickup, the 19-year-old driver reportedly had non-incapacitating injuries.
Authorities say that the pickup driver initially left the scene but was later located. That driver was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. Additional details are unavailable at this time.
Commentary on Belinda Cerros, Elmer Vazquez, Beverly Navarro, Efrain Vasquez Car Accident in Irving
With situations like this, it's obviously concerning to see alcohol at all possible as a factor in the crash. The possibly drunk driver only being 19 simply makes things more concerning. A big reason for that is because of the possibility that the teenager bought the alcohol from a local business. While there are obviously consequences authorities would consider for an allegedly drunk teenager, there could be other consequences helpful to the victims and families concerning any local alcohol provider that contributed to the crash.
To put it simply, Texas has what's called dram shop law. It basically says that an alcohol provider who over-serves an obviously intoxicated person can be liable for damages resulting from that intoxication. Some may have heard about a crash several years ago out of the Houston area where, according to reports, a 17-year-old kid bought alcohol at a local store, got drunk, and caused a fatal wreck. Not only did that present possible charges against the business for serving someone under age, it may have also opened them up to liability for breaking the law and contributing to the deadly crash through their negligent service of alcohol.
Now, that situation and this one are no doubt different, and it would take more thorough investigations to even confirm if alcohol played a role here. But considering the potential consequences of these events, it would be irresponsible not to investigate these possibilities. Not only are there several people no doubt in need of serious help, there could be a local business willing to over-serve people--teenagers, no less--that could still be putting the community in danger. Isn't that something worth addressing as soon and as thoroughly as possible?
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