A 32-year-old man accused of hitting and killing a San Juan teenager just minutes into 2022 has been indicted on charges of manslaughter and accident involving death.
Cristobal Trujillo, of San Juan, is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment Tuesday morning.
He is accused of speeding on Jan. 1, when he hit and killed 17-year-old Juan Vasquez Jr. as he tried to cross Cesar Chavez Road, south of Owassa Road, about 12:06 a.m.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a news release at the time that Trujillo, who was driving a 2012 white Toyota Sienna, ran from the scene after hitting Vasquez.
In court hearings seeking to reduce Trujillo’s $600,000 in bonds earlier this year, his attorney, Osvaldo Morales, told a judge he believes the crash was accidental and noted that his client was not accused of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“My client did get off the vehicle and was screaming and yelling for someone to call an ambulance,” Morales said Jan. 31. “When nobody was reacting to anything, he did panic and he did leave. He told his sister what happened. His sister went out to the scene, and she’s the one — I believe she told the officer that it was her brother. And then he ended up turning himself in. It was an accident.”
Trujillo turned himself in on Jan. 4.
At the hearing, state District Judge Marla Cuellar lowered Trujillo’s bonds to a total of $65,000 and he bailed out of the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Feb. 2.
A grand jury indicted Trujillo on Aug. 30.
