Crime Time

Woman who died in Fort Worth wreck aspired to be a nurse

The courtesy patrol teams travel with tools to help motorists on Tarrant County roads who have minor trouble, such as flat tires or stalled engines.

Police believe, however, that a member of the team was driving the pickup tha tslammed into the driver's side of a car as it pulled out of a parking lot near movie theaters Saturday evening in north Fort Worth.

The driver of the truck, Alan Michael McKinney, 29, of Fort Worth, is facing a charge of intoxication manslaughter in the death of Amy Anders, 23, of Roanoke who aspired to be a nurse.

Read more about her in this report from Mitch Mitchell.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/01/20/4561810/member-of-tarrant-sheriffs-courtesy.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/01/20/4561810/member-of-tarrant-sheriffs-courtesy.html#storylink=cpy

Report: Alcoholic energy drink tied to fatal Denton crash

WFAA Channel 8 is reporting that the controversial alcoholic energy drink Four Loko has been implicated in the crash early Sunday morning that killed a 14-year-old girl in Denton.

The station reported that one of the two young teen boys in the car admitted to drinking the beverage. One can of the drink contains the same punch as five beers.

Valeria Rodriguez, 14, was killed and her 14-year-old boyfriend faces an intoxication manslaughter charge in her death, the station reported.

-- Lance Murray

Sentence handed down in fatal Arlington wreck

An Arlington woman with no criminal history was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in prison for being drunk when she caused a collision in January 2009 that killed a young man.

Jurors also recommended that Erica Kolanowski, 31, (above) spend 10 years in prison for intoxication assault because a passenger in the car was permanently maimed in the crash.

Testimony this week showed that at about 11 p.m. Jan. 11, 2009, Kolanowski's SUV hurtled down Green Oaks Boulevard in Arlington at more than 70 mph, ran a red light and broadsided a small car driven by Matthew Lundy.

Lundy's passenger, Joshua Carter, 20, was killed almost instantly; Lundy, then 21, spent 85 days in a Fort Worth hospital and now uses a wheelchair.

Family members of the young men were allowed to address Kolanowski in court. Staff writer Tim Madigan reports.

Woman pleads guilty to intoxication manslaughter; jurors deciding penalty

An Arlington woman has pleaded guilty to charges of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault, following a wreck last winter that killed Joshua Carter, 20, and put his friend, Matthew Lundy, 22, (above) in a wheelchair.

Now, a Tarrant County jury is deciding if Erica Kolanowski, 31, should go to prison and, if so, for how long.

Kolanowski had never been charged with drunken driving before and had no felony convictions.

But, according to evidence in the case, her blood-alcohol level following the wreck was more than twice the legal limit.

Read more in this report by Staff writer Tim Madigan.

-- Bill Miller

Saginaw man gets prison time, fine for intoxication manslaughter

The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that a 29-year-old Saginaw man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $10,000 for the May 2008 drunken-driving death of a Central Texas man on Interstate 35 in Waco.

Jason Lang Modgling, who pleaded guilty on Wednesday to intoxication manslaughter, was sentenced in the death of Adam Martinzez Jr.

Modgling said that he had started driving to Saginaw from a work site in College Station after having had seven or eight beers with his work crew.

Modgling had asked the jury to sentence him to probation, but the jurors rejected his request and sentenced him to prison.

-- Lance Murray

High-speed paintball chase ends in fatal crash

A man is under arrest in Corpus Christi, accused of firing paintballs at an SUV, causing it to crash and kill one of its occupants.

Police say that Joshua Black, 23, was in a Ford Bronco and was involved in a high speed chase with a GMC Yukon. Police allege that Black fired the paint balls at the Yukon, which then struck the Bronco and the Yukon flipped. It then hit a palm tree, killing 24-year-old Adam Rodriguez, who was a passenger.

Black was arrested on suspicion of intoxication manslaughter.

-- Lance Murray

Debate renewed over work detail sentences for DWI offenders

The blood-alcohol level of a man who crashed a van early Tuesday, killing the 2-year-old son of his cousin, was more than three times the legal limit, police officials said.

Tests revealed that Miguel Limon Jr.'s blood-alcohol level was 0.26 when he plowed a 1996 GMC Safari into a concrete wall along the northbound Interstate 35W service road at Ripy Street. The crash killed Esteban Estrada and injured the boy's younger brother and mother.

The fatal wreck came just 12 days after Limon, 25, (right) pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to 15 days in jail. In lieu of jail.

The death of the child is renewing debate over the sentencing of first-time DWI offenders to labor detail.

"I would hope," said one official from the Tarrant County district attorney's office, "(that judges) would find that it is not in the interest of justice to continue to use labor detail for DWI offenders."

Staff Writer Deanna Boyd reports.

Suspect previously convicted for DWI but didn't show up for work detail

The man facing charges for intoxication manslaughter in the death Tuesday of his cousin's son, was sentenced this month to a county labor detail for driving while intoxicated.

But Miguel Limon Jr. (pictured in custody, left) did not show up to do his time, officials said.

Tarrant County court records show that in January 2004, Limon was sentenced to 100 days in jail for possession of a controlled substance. On Dec. 6, records show, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail on a misdemeanor conviction of driving while intoxicated. He was ordered by County Criminal Court Judge Brent Carr to serve his time in the county’s labor-detail program.

Police have accused Limon, 25, of speeding and being intoxicated when he crashed a 1996 GMC Safari van into a concrete wall on the northbound service road of Interstate 35W at Ripy Street shortly before 1 a.m.

Limon, 25, now faces a charge of intoxication manslaughter in the death of Esteban Estrada, who would have turned 3 on Friday.

Read the latest report by Staff Writer Deanna Boyd.

' ... If you really want to honor him ... don't drink and drive. Not even once'

Police suspect the man behind the wheel of a GMC van that crashed early Tuesday on the Interstate 35W service road, right, was drunk.

If that turns out to be the case, he will be charged with intoxication manslaughter in the death of 2-year-old Estaban Estrada, who would have turned 3 on Friday.

The child was with his mother and his 22-month-old brother in the van, which was driven by his mother's cousin.

Sgt. Rodney Bangs, supervisor of the Traffic Enforcement Division, said evidence at the scene, specifically a container for an alcoholic beverage lead them to arrest the man at the hospital where he was being treated for injuries from the wreck.

Estaban's death was one year and a day since Officer Dwayne Freeto, left, died on the same highway, about a mile farther north, when his patrol car was hit from behind by a car driven by a man who was later indicted for intoxication manslaughter.

We're reminded of what the officer's father, Carl Freeto, said a few days later.

"Are we angry? No, that isn’t quite it.

"Are we looking for revenge? No. We pray this day for that young man and his family.

"We are not the only ones suffering.

"If you want to honor Dwayne, if you really want to honor him ... do not drink and drive.

"Not even once."

-- Bill Miller

Man held on intoxication manslaughter charge

Felipe Molina Escobedo, 44, of Dallas, right, is being held at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas, accused of intoxication manslaughter in the traffic death Monday of a Garland man.

He is being held on a $25,000 bond.

Manuel G. Trevino, 47, was identified by the Dallas County medical examiner's office.

Police said Trevino was killed Monday in collision between his motorcycle and the pickup truck driven by Escobedo. Trevino died 12 days away from his 48th birthday, according to records.

The incident was reported at 4:42 p.m. near the intersection of Munger Boulevard and Columbia Avenue, about a mile north of Fair Park, police said.

Trevino was riding a motorcycle east on Columbia when a gray Chevrolet S-10 pickup struck him, said Lt. Vernon Hale, police spokesman.

Hale said the driver of the pickup, later identified as Escobedo, "attempted to flee the scene and was apprehended by several good Samaritans 4-5 blocks away."

"The driver," he added, "was held by citizens until police arrived."

-- Bill Miller