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The 69-year-old Harlingen woman charged with the death of her passenger when she crashed her vehicle while she was intoxicated in December has been indicted, court records show.
Imelda Silva Velez is charged with intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle which resulted in the death of her passenger, 41-year-old Vanessa Villarreal Moreno.
At around 6:36 p.m. on Dec. 15, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were dispatched to the scene of a two-vehicle crash that happened on the expressway near an exit ramp in Mercedes.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Mercedes police and the city’s fire department were already there when the troopers arrived.
Law enforcement found a green four-door Ford Fusion with severe damage to its rear and a Dodge Ram that had collided with the Fusion further down the road.
Authorities also noticed severe damage to the guard railing along with debris from the Fusion’s impact.
They then learned that Velez had already been taken to the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen in critical condition.
The dead passenger was then identified as Moreno by her mother.
The driver of the Dodge Ram was identified as Baldomero Escamilla who 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.
Police went to visit Velez later that night.
It was there that told police that she had 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, according to the affidavit.
Police then spoke to a doctor who said that Velez had been drunk during the crash.
“Doctor Diaz informed [us] that her alcohol level was very high, almost in the 300s,” the affidavit said.
According to the document, no skid marks were found at the crash site. The damage sustained by the guard rail and the damage scene on 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 $750,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in front of state District Judge Bobby Flores for her arraignment hearing that’s is scheduled for next Wednesday.
