Authorities announced an update naming the driver who mowed down a group of migrants at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas. The number of fatalities was increased by one, for a total of eight deceased reported. Police still won’t go out on a limb and call the act “intentional.”
Driver charged with manslaughter
Accused reckless driver George Alvarez definitely killed eight Venezuelan migrants and injured ten more on Sunday, May 7. His SUV “slammed into a crowd of migrants” but officials have “not yet determined whether the act was intentional.”
Everyone else around there is convinced that it was and should be prosecuted as a hate crime.
Police note Alvarez has a record for things like “assault and driving while intoxicated.” After running a red light and speeding directly toward the crowd of helpless victims, the then unidentified driver “tried to flee the scene.”
8 people would have been alive today if our justice system wasn’t broken.
People like George Alvarez should have been in jail with this extensive rap sheet:
– aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
– assault against elderly or disabled
– assault causing bodily injury to a… pic.twitter.com/EYNpn1xfAr— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) May 8, 2023
Vigilant witnesses chased him down and sat on him until police got there. A big factor in what he gets charged with will be results of the toxicology reports.
According to Chief Felix Sauceda on Monday, “the department was awaiting results of formal toxicology tests.” He also notes that “Alvarez is not cooperating.”
If the driver was seriously impaired it will be unlikely that a prosecutor can prove “intent” to murder the migrants, even if that’s exactly what he meant to do. That’s pretty much the same Defense Hunter Biden will be using on his pending criminal charges.
Haven’t ruled it out
Sauceda was quick to inform the grumbling public that “although authorities did not have enough information to establish a motive yet, they have not ‘ruled out‘ that it was an intentional act.” They charged the driver with manslaughter as a placeholder which can be upgraded.
They also pegged Alvarez with “10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.” Local liberal bail advocates will have a hard time raising his bond. The judge set his bail at $3.6 million. “This was a very tragic incident,” the chief relates.
Most, if not all of the victims were identified as Venezuelan nationals so “local officials have been in touch with Venezuelan authorities to coordinate reunification efforts and assistance for the victims.”
A Latino man accused of plowing his car into a group of Latino migrants in Brownsville, Texas, killing 8, is in police custody. Authorities are investigating if suspect George Alvarez has anti-migrant views. He is among multiple Latino suspects accused of mass killings in Texas… pic.twitter.com/0deP2DdW4H
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) May 8, 2023
The driver has a criminal history which “includes two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a count of assault against an elderly or disabled person, four counts of assault causing bodily injury to a family member, and at least 11 other charges.” Those statistics came from court records but it’s still not clear “how many of the charges had resulted in convictions.”
According to shelter director Victor Maldonado, after the driver ran a red light about a hundred feet from the bus stop, “the vehicle ran up the curb, flipped and continued moving for about 200 feet.”
One of the reasons everyone in the neighborhood is howling for murder charges is because, as related by witness Louis Herrera, “the driver had taunted the group, driving past them and yelling insults, before the crash.” He “recalled the driver yelling ‘You’re invading my property!‘”
