George Alvarez, driver in lethal Brownsville, Texas automobile crash, charged with manslaughter

• Eight individuals have died after an SUV slammed right into a crowd ready for a bus exterior a migrant middle in Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday.
• George Alvarez, a 34-year-old resident of Brownsville, has been charged with manslaughter.
• Police say Alvarez misplaced management of the SUV after operating a crimson gentle and flipping the car on its facet.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The driving force of an SUV that killed eight individuals when it slammed right into a bus cease in Brownsville, Texas has been charged with manslaughter, police stated Monday as investigators tried to find out if the crash was intentional.

Authorities consider driver George Alvarez, 34, of Brownsville, misplaced management after operating a crimson gentle Sunday morning, and plowed right into a crowd of Venezuelans exterior a migrant middle.

Police Chief Chief Felix Sauceda stated Alvarez was charged with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a lethal weapon. Officers are awaiting toxicology studies to find out whether or not Alvarez was intoxicated, Sauceda stated, including that there was no motive that he may talk about.

The SUV ran a crimson gentle, misplaced management, flipped on its facet and struck 18 individuals, Sauceda stated at a information convention Monday morning. Six individuals died on the scene and 12 individuals had been critically injured, he stated. Officers have stated the loss of life toll later rose to eight.

Alvarez tried to flee, however was held down by a number of individuals on the scene, he stated. His bail was set at $3.6 million.

Victims struck by the car had been ready for the bus to return to downtown Brownsville after spending the evening on the in a single day shelter, stated Sister Norma Pimentel, government director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley.

A lot of the victims had been Venezuelan males, shelter director Victor Maldonado stated. Brownsville has seen a surge of Venezuelan migrants over the past two weeks for unclear causes, authorities stated. On Thursday, 4,000 of about 6,000 migrants in Border Patrol custody in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley had been Venezuelan.

Police retrieved a blood pattern and despatched it to a Texas Division of Public Security lab to check for intoxicants.