Santos Castaneda Killed, Jose Nava Gomez Injured in Car Accident in Houston County, TX
Houston County, TX -- February 19, 2023, Santos Castaneda was killed and Jose Nava Gomez was injured due to a head-on traffic accident.
Authorities said they were called to the area of Highway 21 and Meadowview Street at around 10:48 p.m. It appears that 52-year-old Santos Castaneda was in a Dodge Ram going westbound along the highway. 31-year-old Jose Nava Gomez was in an eastbound Chevy Silverado. For reasons not yet confirmed, police believe the Dodge went over the center line and crashed into the Silverado.
Due to the collision, Castaneda sustained fatal injuries. Nava Gomez was said to have incapacitating injuries. Police mentioned investigating alcohol as a possible factor, but this and other details are still under investigation.
To be clear up front, I don't see any particular reason to believe alcohol was a factor here. It's not unusual to see authorities bring up alcohol as a possibility after just about any crash. Sometimes they can confirm it, but other times evidence shows alcohol wasn't at all involved. There's no telling what the evidence will say here until there have been more thorough investigations, so I would discourage anyone against jumping to conclusions when there are still many unanswered questions.
For all we know, this all was due to something unavoidable like a medical emergency or a mechanical issue. That's why my hope here is that authorities are able to dedicate enough time and effort to ensure nothing important slips through the cracks. The victims and families involved here at least deserve to know they're getting the full story.
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