Road to recovery: Passenger of deadly car crash in East El Paso opens up

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- For Joshua Serrano, the road to recovery has been a hard and long fought battle, after suffering life threatening injuries from a car crash on Oct. 15, 2023.

Serrano, a Registered Nurse at Providence Memorial, was a passenger in a deadly car crash that killed 31-year-old Alonso Mario Lopez.

According to El Paso Police, 21-year-old Ft. Bliss resident Terry Randall Kinkade was arrested on an intoxication manslaughter charge and an intoxication assault charge, after his car slammed into Lopez's car on Loop 375 at Montana in East El Paso.

Lopez died at the scene, Serrano was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Online court records show Terry Randall Kinkade pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday to 8 years in prison.

"I feel that it's unfair that Mr. Kinkade got 8 years and he still has that chance to live his life and start a family and that's something Mario won't ever be able to do," Serrano told ABC-7.

Serrano said he spoke face to face to Kinkade during the sentencing.

"I told him how I felt about killing Mario, about destroying my career and my life. My, quality of life is going to be forever changed," he said. "Definitely a weight off my shoulders. It was a lot of pent up anger, frustration, sadness. So it definitely was a release to be able to tell him how I felt about the situation."

According to the gofundme made for Serrano after the crash, he suffered an internal decapitation, rib fractures and a Hematoma in his lung and spine.

The fundraising page said he was in for months of hospitalization and physical therapy after.

"I had to learn how to eat, how to walk how to brush my teeth how to do everything, how to chew so it's a difficult road," said Serrano. "I'm still unable to drive unable to work, so I've been out of work since the accident."

Serrano says now he can work towards the future and enjoy the special moments in life like seeing his daughter graduate. 

He said he hopes to be able to return to work in the near future.