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A 69-year-old Harlingen woman was arrested Friday for the death of her passenger after she crashed her vehicle while intoxicated in December of last year.
Imelda Silva Velez was charged with intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle after she told a police officer that she had nine beers before crashing her vehicle.
At about 6:36 p.m., on Dec. 15, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were dispatched to a two-vehicle crash that occurred on the expressway IH-02 westbound near exit ramp 163A in Mercedes, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The Mercedes Police Department and the city’s fire department were already at the scene when troopers arrived.
Authorities observed a green four-door Ford Fusion with severe damage to its rear and a Dodge Ram further down the highway that had collided with the Fusion.
In addition, severe damage to the guard rail along with debris from the Fusion’s impact were also observed.
It was learned that Velez had already been taken to the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen in critical condition when officers observed the dead passenger and identified her as Vanessa Villarreal Moreno by her mother at the scene.
The driver of the Dodge Ram, identified as Baldomero Escamilla, said in a written statement that he had walked up to the Fusion and it smelled like alcohol.
A search of the Fusion revealed broken glass bottles of Dos Equis XX in the rear of the car by the trunk as well as two Budweiser and one Bud Light bottle caps inside Velez’s purse.
Later that night, officers went to visit Velez at the hospital who told police that she had drunk nine Natural Light beers Thursday night, went to bed around midnight and had been awake since 2 a.m., but added that fatigue wasn’t a factor in the crash, the affidavit said.
Police spoke to a Dr. Diaz who was in charge of Velez in the ICU and revealed that she was intoxicated during the crash.
“Doctor Diaz informed [us] that her alcohol level was very high, almost in the 300s,” the affidavit said.
At the crash site, no skid marks were observed but the damage to the guard rail and the damage to the front of the Fusion were consistent with someone trying to make a lane change.
“Mrs. Imelda Silva Velez changed lanes when unsafe, which led her to crash into the guard rail and later receive an impact from the rear from the vehicle Mr. Baldomero was driving,” the affidavit said. “The smell of the alcohol from the rear of the vehicle, the beer bottle caps, the statement Mr. Baldomero gave was indicative that Mrs. Velez had consumed alcoholic drinks and was intoxicated at the time of the crash.”
Velez remains jailed at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a $1 million bond.