At Least 5 Dead, More Than a Dozen Injured After Texas Car Crash Was Allegedly Caused by a Drunk Driver: Police

At least five people are dead and more than a dozen others are injured following a car crash in Texas that was allegedly caused by a drunk driver, authorities said.

The Austin Police Department (APD) said in a Facebook post on Friday, March 14, that officers arrested and charged 37-year-old Solomun Weldekeal Araya with five counts of intoxication manslaughter — for the five people who died in the crash — and two counts of intoxication assault tied to the incident.

Police shared a mugshot of the suspect, though they did not provide any other details about how the car crash occurred or how he was identified as the suspect.

Authorities told NBC News that Araya is in custody in Travis County Jail. It is not immediately clear if he has legal representation to comment on his behalf.

The car crash happened on Thursday, March 13, at around 11:23 p.m. local time on the area’s I-35 going southbound, according to the Austin Travis County Medical Services.

The organization said on social media that they responded to a crash that involved a semi-truck and multiple vehicles, and they said that several people had been “pinned in their vehicles.”

The Austin Travis County Medical Services later confirmed in an update that five patients — three adults, one child and one infant — were pronounced dead at the scene. 

They also said that there were a total of 17 injured, with 11 people being taken to the hospital with injuries that ranged from critical and life-threatening to minor.

Three of the 11 injured were children, who were taken to Dell Children’s Medical Center. One was described as having potentially life-threatening injuries, while the others had minor injuries, per police.

Officials told reporters that the crash involved an 18-wheeler that had a ruptured saddle tank. While the vehicle didn’t catch fire, another car did. A good Samaritan with a fire extinguisher was able to put it out before the Austin Fire Department arrived, according to CBS Austin.

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“This incident was incredibly chaotic, and it was spread out over about a tenth of a mile,” Capt. Krista Stedman with the Austin-Travis County EMS told reporters of the crash, per ABC News.

“We were able to get all the critical patients off the scene within about 40 minutes, and, considering how complex the scene was, that’s pretty impressive,” she added.

A day after the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on social media that they had “opened a safety investigation into the crash” alongside the APD.

“The investigation go team will include experts in highway, survival and vehicle factors; human performance; and motor carrier factors,” the agency added.