Elida Jaramillo, Carlos Perez Hernandez Injured in Car Accident in Eagle Pass, TX
Eagle Pass, TX -- September 5, 2023, Elida Jaramillo and Carlos Perez Hernandez were injured due to an alleged drunk driver accident.
Investigators said they were called to the area of Garrison Street and US 57 at around 5:50 p.m. Details suggest that 60-year-old Elida Jaramillo and 71-year-old Carlos Perez Hernandez were in a Nissan pickup which was northbound on Garrison. While rounding a curve, an oncoming pickup apparently went across a left turn lane and into northbound lanes. There, the two pickups collided.
Both Jaramillo and Perez Hernandez were said to have incapacitating injuries while the other driver appeared to be uninjured. That driver was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, but it's unclear if charges have been filed.
It sometimes surprises people when police mention drunk driving yet don't immediately have a mugshot in the news and charges in the works. Maybe they did file charges behind the scenes, or maybe further evidence showed they wouldn't be appropriate. But drunk driving wrecks often aren't as simple as people may think.
Not only do investigators have to be able to prove a driver's intoxication, they need to wait for blood test results, they need to find out if the driver was over-served by a business, they need to examine those businesses for possible liability under dram shop law, and they even need to look into other possible contributing factors, such as mechanical defects.
Drunk driving being an obvious wrong does not make the solution for the victims equally obvious. That's why people in need of help and answers after accidents like the one described here have to be sure investigators are focused on finding evidence rather than simply looking for someone to blame.
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