12 Feb 2014
A woman has been charged with driving while intoxicated in connection with a collision that took place last week in Northwest Austin. Additional charges are pending.
According to the Austin Police Department, their preliminary investigation indicates that a Ford SUV was traveling northbound on a service road, while a Honda Civic was going eastbound on a cross-street. The Ford apparently hit the other car in the passenger side, and both occupants of the Honda were killed. The location of the crash was a controlled intersection with a traffic signal that was apparently in good operating condition.
Police say that that after the accident, the woman driving the Ford smelled of alcohol, was swaying and was slurring her words. Although the woman refused to provide a blood sample, she was nevertheless arrested and charged with DWI. It was also reported that she has two prior convictions for driving while intoxicated from other states (California and Nevada) within the past eight years. If this turns out to be the case, another conviction would be a third degree felony.
Police also say that other charges are pending, and you might wonder why there has, as yet, been no charge of intoxication manslaughter. After all, two people apparently lost their lives, and the allegation is that the driver of the other vehicle was drunk.
The answer is in the intoxication manslaughter statute, section 49.08 of the penal code. What the law says is that you have committed that offense when you have done three things: first, you operated a motor vehicle (or a watercraft, aircraft or amusement ride); second, while you did so, you were intoxicated; and third, you caused the death of another person by reason of that intoxication. This last element requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of causation, that is, that the illegal conduct, in this case drunk driving, was in fact the cause of the death. As noted above, the intersection where the collision occurred had a functioning traffic signal. To date, however, the police have been unable to determine to their satisfaction which of the vehicles ran a red light. And it is possible that unless and until they do come to a conclusion about the causation issue, there may be no further charges in the case.
We’ll watch for further developments.
Law Office of David D. White, PLLC
1201 Rio Grande Street #200
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 369-3737