EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A 20-year-old man was arrested last month for intoxicated assault after he allegedly struck several pedestrians, including a pregnant woman, on Saturday night, Sep. 23, according to court documents obtained by KTSM.
Hector Eduardo Gonzalez, 20, is facing two counts of intoxication assault for an incident that happened in Downtown El Paso after a UTEP football game.
Court documents state Gonzalez was coming from a UTEP tailgate party that Saturday night, when he ran a red light, collided with a vehicle, and struck several pedestrians on Franklin Avenue in Downtown El Paso.
According to court documents, Gonzalez was traveling east on Franklin in a red Toyota Tacoma pickup while another vehicle was stopped at a red light on Oregon Street.
Once the light turned green, the vehicle on Oregon Street proceeded to drive south and Gonzalez “disregarded the red light and swiped the front of the vehicle, then continued forward and struck some pedestrians,” according to court documents.
The Toyota stopped after it collided with several parked vehicles, with Gonzalez still being in the driver’s seat.
The officer who first arrived at the scene met with Gonzalez, helped him out of the vehicle, and noticed that he showed signs of intoxication. The officer then requested a DWI unit.
Another officer arrived at the scene and met with Gonzalez, and detected a “strong order of alcohol,” according to court documents.
The officer proceeded to ask Gonzalez what had happened, to which Gonzalez said that he was driving east on Franklin to take I-10 when a “police car hit him,” according to court documents. Police said they knew that no police units had been involved in a collision and they also documented the suspect giving several contradictory stories about what happened, according to the documents.
Gonzalez also told police that he had been volunteering at the UTEP football game that night and went to the tailgate party afterwards and was on his way home when the collision occurred.
The officer noticed Gonzalez had “glossy eyes, unsteady balance, a dazed appearance, and the strong odor of alcohol” coming from his breath. The officer then asked Gonzalez how much he had to drink, to which Gonzalez replied he had four beers.
The officer then requested Gonzalez to submit to a standardized field sobriety test, to which he refused and stated that “he had done wrong and would rather get it over with and give a blood specimen,” according to court documents.
Court documents reveal that several pedestrians were struck, including two people who suffered serious injuries.
One of those people was a woman who was five months pregnant. Court documents state she suffered a “fractured right tibia, a broken right ankle, and several lacerations to her right forearm.”
The second person was a man who suffered a “ruptured spleen, fracture to the right orbital, and skull fractures.”
Court documents state the injured were mostly part of a family who were taking part in a walking ghost tour of Downtown El Paso.
Gonzalez posted a $70,000 bond for each charge on Sept. 24.
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