Four people in golf cart, including two children, killed after ‘drunk driver’ in SUV ran stop sign
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Two adults and two children were killed when a drunk driver plowed into a car which went flying into a golf cart being driven by the victims, police say.
Miguel Espinoza, 45, was arrested and charged with intoxication manslaughter following Saturday night’s crash on the resort island of Galveston, near Houston in Texas.
Those killed are believed to be a grandfather, his niece, and his two grandchildren.
The niece is the only victim so-far named. Relatives identified her as Destiny Uvalle, and it is still unclear how she was related to the two children killed, or how old those kids were.
According to one local, the two people who survived were the children’s grandmother, as well as one of their young siblings. Those two survivors remain critically-ill in hospital.
The golf cart had six people in it was driving on one side of the road when an black Hyundai SUV driven by Espinoza failed to stop at the intersection, investigators say.
It then struck a black Dodge truck that was traveling in the opposite direction, which then crashed into the golf cart, according to the Galveston Police Department.
The grandfather was driving the golf cart was pronounced dead at the scene.
The drunk driver, Miguel Espinoza (pictured) plowed his vehicle into a truck. The truck than crashed into the golf cart killing four people – including two juveniles – at an intersection of Avenue R and 33rd Street, a few blocks away from Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, an island city on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Espinoza, 45, has been charged with four counts of intoxication manslaughter in the Saturday crash
The adult driver of the golf cart was pronounced dead at the scene. An adult female identified as Dest Uvalle, and two children, also in the golf cart at the time of the crash, were taken to hospital where they later died from injuries
Galveston Police Sargent Derek Gaspard confirmed that two different families were riding on the golf cart at the time of the crash.
The 11:30 pm crash happened at the intersection of Avenue R and 33rd Street, a few blocks away from Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, an island city on the Gulf Coast of Texas, located roughly 50 miles southeast of Houston.
Officials said the intersection on the street does not have a stop sign.
The golf cart, which was rented, was operating legally on the city street, according to police.
In 2021, a Texas law was revised which allows golf carts and most off-highway vehicles to be operated on public roads.
Espinoza, who lives in the Houston-area city of Rosenberg, and his passenger had minor injuries, police said. They were taken to the hospital and later released.
Espinoza is currently being held in Galveston County jail on $400,000 bond.
The occupants of the pickup truck were not injured, officials said.
On Sunday, tributes came pouring in for victim Dest Uvalle as friends and family members expressed their grief and shared photos and video of Uvalle.
The Hyundai being driven by Espinoza at the time of the deadly smash is pictured
A map shows where the Saturday night crash took place that claimed the lives of four people
‘Never in a million years did I ever think I would read something like this and it would be a family member, one of the victims was my step daughter,’ Sylvia Susan Rodriguez-Rodriguez-Uvalle wrote on Facebook. ‘Please keep my husband and all her family in your prayers. RIP Dest Uvalle, we will miss you dearly.
Jada Davis wrote ‘This feels so unreal. I’m gonna miss you Dest Uvalle.’
‘Rest in heaven give Momo a big hug for me,’ another person wrote.
Galveston Mayor Craig Brown said golf carts have become ‘quite a prolific mode of transportation’ for residents and visitors to the island resort area, which is located on the Gulf of Mexico.
Brown said that the city has in the past put in place ordinances aimed at make operating them safer, and will be considering additional ordinances at an upcoming City Council meeting.
‘I was out last night,’ Brown said. ‘The island was busy and there were golf carts – residential as well as rental golf carts – out all over these streets.’
Mourners placed candles, flowers and stuffed animals where multi-vehicle crash took place
The 11:30 pm crash happened at the intersection of Avenue R and 33rd Street, a few blocks away from Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, an island city on the Gulf Coast of Texas, located roughly 50 miles southeast of Houston