Teen Driver Arrested; Three Passengers Hospitalized In East Side Wreck

A wreck near the intersection of Zaragoza and Pellicano sent three young people to the hospital with life-threatening injuries Saturday, police said.

The driver of the car, Luis Belio, 18, had been drinking and is facing charges, police said.

Belio will be fighting for his freedom behind bars, but police said, his three backseat passengers are fighting for their lives – none of them were buckled up. Drivers on El Paso’s east side told ABC-7 this is a bad habit they see all too often.

“When we get in the car, the first thing, everybody puts on their seat belt,” Raul Garcia, an El Paso driver, said. Garcia said he refuses to start the car until everyone inside, including his three kids, are buckled up.

“You may never know when something’s gonna happen, so you always have to expect the unexpected,” Raul Garcia Jr., Garcia’s 18 year old son, said.

But the unexpected came crashing fast for Belio, charged with intoxicated assault and accident causing serious bodily injury or death.

Belio was speeding through the intersection of Pellicano and Zaragoza in a Toyota Camry just before 4 a.m. Saturday, police said. Belio swerved to avoid hitting a garbage truck, clipping another vehicle and smashing into a metal sign, police said.

Backseat passenger Ricardo Morales, 23, was ejected out the car’s sunroof and into a metal pole, police said.

Morales and two 13-year-old girls, also in the backseat, were not wearing safety belts.

“The first thing that goes through my mind is, what are they thinking just driving like unsafely,” Garcia Jr. said.

Speed and no belts contributed to 62 people killed in crashes last year, police said. In the first few weeks of this new year, 8 people have died.

“You hear about all these things around in this city and across the nation, I don’t see why people can’t understand that seat belts save lives,” Julian Gardea, who lives in far east El Paso, said.

The wreck at Pellicano and Zaragoza is the most recent reminder of how valuable it is to just ‘click it,’ police said.

“People just need to start realizing it’s costing people’s lives,” Gardea said. “It’s not a game out there on the road.”

Most of the recent wrecks have occurred on El Paso’s east side. Residents told ABC-7 they feel that part of the city is more prone to crashes because more open roads lead people to drive faster and take more risks, even if against the law.