McAllen police say a 19-year-old Alamo man was looking at his phone when he veered into oncoming traffic on Friday and caused a fatal crash.
Gerardo Alexis Sotelo is charged with criminal negligent homicide.
The crash happened at 4:40 p.m. in the 3700 block of North Jackson Road.
An officer with the Pharr Police Department was the first on scene and made contact with Sotelo, who said he was driving his silver 2001 Jeep Cherokee and veered into oncoming traffic while looking at Google Maps on his phone, according to an affidavit for the man’s arrest.
“Officer Martinez advised me that he observed for Mr. Sotelo’s cell phone to be on the ground with the application Google Maps open,” the affidavit stated.
According to the affidavit, Sotelo said: “I was using google maps on my cell phone as I was driving and I looked down at my phone and veered onto oncoming traffic and struck another vehicle.”
The crash killed Raul Eduardo Salinas, who was driving a white Dodge Neon.
Authorities also say surveillance video that captured the crash shows Sotelo driving at a high rate of speed when he passed another vehicle before veering into oncoming traffic.
“It was known that Mr. Sotelo had caused the accident,” the affidavit stated.
Sotelo remained jailed Tuesday on a $100,000 bond.
