San Antonio, TX — Officers with the SAPD have identified two of the people from Monday night’s fatal car accident on U.S. 281 who were taken to a hospital with critical injuries. Police said that two men were killed while Austin Moreno, 18, and Jeannett Rodriguez, 19, were both critically hurt after their cars collided in a head-on accident at about 11:45 p.m. on Monday night, April 27, 2015.
Police believe that the driver responsible for the accident, 19-year old Christopher Paul Marchini (pictured to the left) was intoxicated at the time of the accident.
According to their reports, Marchini was driving a red Lexus along U.S. 281 late Monday night with two men as passengers when he lost control and swerved into the median. The Lexus ended up driving into the oncoming lanes of traffic, where it crashed into Austin Moreno and Jeannett Rodriguez’ silver Toyota.
The accident did major damage to both cars, killing the two male passengers in Marchini’s Lexus immediately. A medical helicopter had to take Austin Moreno and Jeannett Rodriguez to the hospital, and Marchini was also treated for serious injuries.
Allegedly, he claimed to police officers that he had only been using marijuana that night and denied drinking any alcohol.
So far, he’s been arrested and charged with two counts of both intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter.
Map of San Antonio
Commentary:
This 19-year old driver has claimed that he was drinking that night, only using marijuana. I don’t want to leap to conclusions here, but I hope you understand why I’m a little skeptical. The first thing I’d be wondering is whether this young man had been drinking alcohol that night and whether an adult (or even a bar or liquor store) had provided it for him. Depending on what exactly happened in the hours leading up to this wreck, the law might hold more than just this 19-year old driver responsible for the deaths and injuries here.
There really needs to be more detail in these news reports, but that’s rarely the case — especially in these preliminary reports. If someone can do a little more investigating, I’m sure we’d find much more information that the news isn’t covering.
— Grossman Law Offices
