2023-05-10 17:35:43
The first toxicology report did not list drug levels in the bloodstream.
George Alvarez, the man charged with the deaths of eight people following his vehicle plowed into a crowd outside an immigrant shelter in Brownsville, Texas, had cocaine, benzodiazepines and marijuana in his system at the time, police said.
Police are awaiting further toxicology reports before determining the cause of the crash, Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval said.
Witnesses said they heard the driver express anti-immigrant sentiments following he tried to flee the scene.
The first toxicology report, which Sandoval said did not list drug levels in Alvarez’s bloodstream, was prepared by Valley Regional Hospital, where he was taken for treatment of injuries following the crash.
Sandoval said police took a second sample, which they are testing for drug levels.
That report will then be given to the Cameron County district attorney to determine whether the charges should be changed or added, he said.
Alvarez, 34, faces eight counts of manslaughter and additional charges stemming from injuring 10 people.
As the police investigation continues, the community of Brownsville, a border city that has long been a landmark for migrants, grieves.
Many of those struck by the van were from Venezuela and had arrived in the United States last week as part of a mass migration from the troubled nation.
They had gathered at the Ozanam Center near the bus stop, the only overnight facility in the area that serves immigrants and the homeless.
On Monday night, a mother took the stage at a candlelight vigil in Brownsville looking exhausted, using a microphone to help her find justice for her son.
“I want that man to pay for what he did to my son. Please help me,” the woman said through tears.
Her son’s name is Hector David Medina Medero, said his mother, a young Venezuelan migrant who was a barber and had sought safety in the United States.
After leaving the podium prepared for the speakers at the vigil, another young migrant took her hand and told her that her son did not survive.
The migrant who took his hand was later identified as Jesus Ferrer by Jared Hockema, chairman of the Cameron County Democratic Party, who helped organize the event.
“His son cut my hair,” said Ferrer, who said he witnessed the accident at the bus stop. He held Medero’s mother as she kissed her haircut.
“He said it was the last place my son had touched before he died,” he added later, according to a video of the conversation.
The mother, dressed in a black medical gown, wept profusely, clutching her stomach and head in pain and falling into the arms of the crowd, said Melissa Castro, a community activist who filmed the event.
“I was stunned,” Castro said. “This mother really showed people that these immigrants were just human beings. Just normal people trying to survive in the world.”
The grieving mother arrived at the Ozanam shelter Tuesday morning trying to see where her son had spent his last days, said Víctor Maldonado, director of the shelter.
She walked around the facility desperately trying to find anything that belonged to her because all the possessions she had when she died were seized by authorities, she said.
“Luckily, his loafers were still in the bedroom,” Maldonado said. “So now, at least she has that.”
stopped at the moment
Alvarez, who police described as having a record that included prior assault and drunk driving charges, was taken into custody by witnesses following the Sunday morning crash, according to police and witnesses.
Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda said Monday that Alvarez was not cooperating in the investigation.
Sauceda said authorities had not “ruled out” an intentional act. Alvarez’s bail was set at $3.6 million, the chief said.
Saucedo said that “several” of the victims have been identified as Venezuelan nationals.
“You might see the victims wearing shelter clothing and they had little bags of belongings with little pictures of their mother or family on them,” said Cyndi Hinojosa, a Cameron County justice of the peace who had examined the bodies of the dead.
“They had such scarce things. I have a 23-year-old son and it hurt me a lot to think regarding these poor mothers who don’t know where their children are or if they are alive,” she added.
The tragedy came amid rising tensions on the U.S.-Mexico border, where authorities expect a surge in migrants once a pandemic-era policy allowing for swift removals of asylum seekers is lifted this week. at the border
But residents and immigrant advocates say anti-immigrant violence in Brownsville, which lies just north of the Mexican border city of Matamoros and is a major crossing point for immigrants, has been rare as the city has long been used to migration and has seen an increase in people crossing the border in the past two years.
That welcoming spirit, however, might be changing.
Maldonado told The Washington Post that the center had not received any threats before the accident, but followingward.
On Monday, a day following Sunday’s accident, Maldonado said a man came up to the front door of the shelter and yelled that the accident was their fault.
In a separate incident on Monday, a man in a blue vehicle parked in front of the Ozanam Center and showed a gun to the security officer at the front gate, police said in a statement Tuesday.
He then went to a side door, where security guards told him he might not enter the premises and called the police.
The man, identified by police as Joseph Serino, was later arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and reckless driving.
with background
It was revealed that Álvarez had 17 criminal records, including assault with a weapon, assault while resisting arrest, driving under intoxication and robbery.
Sandoval affirmed that it will be the judge who decides whether to apply a death sentence, life imprisonment or the maximum time allowed.
“It is the first time that something like this has happened in the more than 10 years that I have worked in the city”; lamented the lieutenant.
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