EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – A 21-year-old Horizon City man is facing murder charges after he allegedly fled from police and plowed into three other cars early Saturday morning, Oct. 14 near the Ysleta port of entry, El Paso Police said Sunday in an update.
Carlos Alejandro Martinez is facing three counts of murder and a charge of evading arrest/detention causing death in a crash that killed three people and injured three at 700 S. Zaragoza at Americas.
Martinez is among the injured and will be booked pending medical release, according to police.
The people who were killed in the crash were not identified by name but were a 31-year-old woman, a 27-year-old woman and an 8-year-old girl.
At about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, police say a marked police unit observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on Loop 375 eastbbound at the Padres overpass. The officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop but the driver accelerated his speed when a traffic stop was initiated, according to police.
Police say that due to the high rate of speed from the driver, the officer disengaged from the traffic stop.
The fleeing vehicle exited at the Zaragoza exit, then ran a red light and crashed into three other vehicles that were at the intersection.
Police say the impact was so severe one of the vehicles caught fire while the occupants were inside of the vehicle. The three female occupants, ages 8, 27, 31, died at the scene.
The driver of the fleeing vehicle, identified as Martinez, attempted to leave the scene and would not comply with the officers’ commands which resulted in the officer deploying his taser on him, police said.
The other two occupants of Martinez’s vehicle suffered injuries including a 21-year-old man who was injured seriously. Martinez was also injured in the crash.
Police say two other vehicles were involved in the crash, but their occupants weren’t hurt.
Warrants were obtained for Martinez for three counts of murder totaling $3 million and for evading arrest/detention causing death with a bond of $500,000.
The investigation into this crash is still ongoing.
These are the 57th, 58th and 59th traffic fatalities of this year compared to 55 at this time last year.
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