Affidavit: Driver charged in wreck that killed Fabens teacher told EMS he drank a 12 pack of beer

The driver accused of triggering the wreck that killed a Fabens teacher last month allegedly told first responders he drank a 12 pack of beer before the wreck, a criminal complaint states.

The sheriff’s office said 23-year-old Jonathan Andrew Alvarez was arrested and booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility. Alvarez was charged with Intoxication Manslaughter and jailed on a bond of $800,000.

The criminal complaint states sheriff’s deputies in Hudspeth County encountered Alvarez as he was driving a maroon Chrysler 200 at more than 100 miles per hour. A sheriff deputy pursued Alvarez, but ended the pursuit at the county line when Alvarez entered El Paso County.

Special Traffic Investigators were dispatched to the 18800 block of Texas Highway 20 to investigate at wreck involving several vehicles at approximately 2:00 p.m. on April 19, 2019.

The investigation revealed Alvarez,was traveling west on the highway when his Chrysler 200 collided with a White Dodge Ram pickup turning north onto Oil Mil.

After the initial crash, Alvarez allegedly veered onto the eastbound lanes of travel and collided head-on with a the driver of a silver Suzuki Forenza. The sheriff’s office said 51-year-old Heriberto Santillana, a teacher with Fabens ISD and the driver of the Suzuki, was killed in the wreck. Court documents state Santillana was pinned inside the Suzuki and first responders had to use the “jaws of life” to cut through the wreckage in order to get Santillana out of the vehicle.

Santillana was rushed to Del Sol Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

A criminal complaint states Alvarez and his passenger were treated by paramedics at the scene. The criminal complaint states EMS personnel told deputies that while they were treating Alvarez, he told them he drank a 12 pack of beer. One of the first responders wrote AOB, which means alcohol on beath, in his notes, the criminal complaint states.

A deputy then asked Alvarez if he consumed alcoholic beverages prior to the wreck and Alvarez allegedly nodded yes, the criminal complaint states. When asked how long before the wreck he had been consuming alcohol, Alvarez alegedly told deputies he did not remember.

A witness told deputies she noticed the driver of the Chrysler 200 “traveling at a high rate of speed” moments before the crash. That same witness told deputies the driver of the Chrysler 200 was “driving eratically and swerving from shoulder to shoulder as if they were drunk,” the criminal complaint states.

After his arrest, Alvarez was “found to have a prior DWI charge” dating back July 2016, the court document states.