DWI Disaster: Irving Mother Kills Two Children, Hurts 2 Others

In Irving on Saturday night, Crystal Suniga, 30, got extremely drunk and crashed her sports untility vehicle into parked cars on East Pioneer Drive, and flipped the SUV over. She had been driving at a speed up to 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with her children screaming at her to slow down.

Tragically she killed her two sons, 14-year-old Angel Reyes and 10-year-old Ricardo Hernandez.

According to a news report on wfaa.com, Suniga also injured her other two children in the vehicle, 12-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son. Both children (and Suniga) were rushed by ambulance to hospitals for treatment.

The drivers’ blood alcohol level tested at a whopping 0.18 — more than twice the legal limit. She drank five or six mojitos at her mother’s house “and got a little buzzed,” according to news accounts.

Criminal charges; including two counts of intoxication manslaughter, two counts of injury to a child and one count of intoxication assault, have been filed.

Witnesses were horrified. Jose Osuna said that “our whole house shook. I thought it was an earthquake or something.”

Even the driver’s brother was furious: “It pisses me off… drunk driving with kids inside! They’re innocent, they didn’t do nothing.”

Suniga had been convicted of driving with an expired driver’s license and there was a warrant out for her arrest.

This story sickens me. Is she one of the worst mothers ever? Who would do this to her family? Why does she even have to admit that “I deserve to be punished?”

And more importantly, why is this treated as just another normal news story? Maybe it’s because we here in Texas have more drunk driving accidents than any other state. Wrecks like this are starting to seem almost routine, aren’t they?

Almost half of all people killed in traffic accidents in Texas are injured or killed in drunk driving accidents. This horrific problem is especially rampant in Dallas Fort Worth where just last year,121 people were killed and 1,261 others were seriously injured by DWI or DUI drivers in Tarrant and Dallas Counties.

Drunk driving crashes, like this one, are often the most serious auto accidents. Rarely is a drunk driving accident a slight rear-end collision caused by a driver’s mere failure to brake in time. Instead, drunk driving accidents usually arehigh speed, out of control collisions.

Despite the dangers of drunk driving and the seriousness of the consequences, many drivers choose to disregard the law–and the safety of others, even their own children –and get behind the wheel after they have been drinking.

If you or a loved one have been injured because of a drunk driver, call my office at 817-885-8000 to discuss how I can help you recover money for your injuries.

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