Twice-deported man allegedly on drugs kills teen in car crash
A man who had been deported twice is behind bars after crashing his vehicle into another car while on drugs, killing a Texas teenager who was on her way to the movies with her family.
Edy Lopez-Hernandez, 27, was charged with “murder, intoxication assault and failure to stop and render aid in connection with the crash” after he crashed into the vehicle carrying 17-year-old Britney Baez and her family on Saturday.
Houston Police Department said Lopez-Hernandez fled the scene of the crash with his 2-year-old son, who was in the car. A witness stopped Lopez-Hernandez and told him to return to the crash scene, KTRK reported.
Baez’s sister, Nicole Baez, told KTRK that she was in the backseat with her sister when a car slammed into the rear of the vehicle they were traveling in.
“We were on the way and we just stopped at that light,” Nicole Baez recalled.
“I just remember sitting down on the sidewalk, my mom was still screaming my sister’s name. I can hear my dad asking for water. I could sort of see people around me, that’s when my arm started killing me,” she continued.
Their father was critically injured in the collision and was in a hospital’s intensive care unit.
Police said Lopez-Hernandez was detained and transported to a hospital once he returned to the scene of the crash. At the hospital investigators determined he was “under the influence of narcotics.” His toddler son was also taken to a hospital for treatment.
A law enforcement told KTRK that Lopez-Hernandez appeared to be driving at 70 mph at the time of the crash. Records showed the he had been deported two times.
A law enforcement told KTRK that Lopez-Hernandez appeared to be driving at 70 mph at the time of the crash. Records showed the he had been deported two times.
Baez’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral costs.
“We’re going to always think of you and you’re going to always be in our hearts,” Baez’s cousin, Nancy Gomez, told KTRK.