Karen Gleason
Federal authorities have arrested two Austin residents after a single-vehicle crash Thursday that caused the death of one passenger.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers initiated the investigation of the crash, which occurred just before 9 p.m. Thursday about eight miles northeast of Del Rio on Farm to Market Road 2523, according to DPS spokesman Erick Estrada.
“Preliminary investigation revealed a DPS trooper attempted to conduct a traffic stop for a traffic violation on a 2010 white Toyota passenger car, but the vehicle failed to stop and began to evade. The vehicle then drove off the roadway, rolled over, and three passengers were ejected,” Estrada wrote in a press statement issued Friday.
Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said Friday sheriff’s office deputies assisted DPS troopers at the scene of the crash.
Deputies who responded reported “multiple ejections from the vehicle and three subjects trapped inside the vehicle.”
“Deputies arrived and assisted DPS and EMS in extracting and locating the subjects that had been ejected,” the deputies reported.
One of those ejected from the vehicle, a male passenger, died at the scene.
The driver, identified as Bianca Michelle Trujillo-Lopez, 18, a resident of Austin, and the remaining passengers, were transported to hospitals for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash, Estrada said in his press statement.
Val Verde sheriff’s deputies and members of the county fire department also established and held a landing zone for medical transport helicopters, which flew two of the injured to a San Antonio hospital, Martinez said.
He added three of the persons involved in the crash were taken to Val Verde Regional Medical Center for treatment.
Estrada said Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Trujillo-Lopez and another passenger, identified as Isidro Ernesto Rodriguez Jr., 28, also a resident of Austin. He said Trujillo-Lopez and Rodriguez also “have pending charges from DPS.”
“DPS and Homeland Security Investigation are further investigating this case,” Estrada said.
