Police: Driver found with cocaine caused crash, killed 3 people, including 8-year-old girl

Update: According to court documents newly obtained by ABC-7, officers found a bag of cocaine in Martinez's pant pocket.

The El Paso Police Department released Martinez's booking photo.

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso Police Special Traffic Investigators determined that speed and driver attempting to avoid a traffic stop by officers lead to the crash that resulted in a fire and the death of three occupants.

In a release police report Carlos Alejandro Martinez, 21, was speeding in a 2004 Nissan Armada heading eastbound on Loop 375 at the Padres overpass Saturday morning when a police officer on traffic patrol tried to conduct a traffic stop.

Martinez accelerated, according to police, "due to the high rate of speed the officer disengaged the traffic stop".

Martinez exited at Zaragoza, ran a red light and hit the vehicles at the intersection.

The force of the impact caused a Mazda Tribute to catch fire with people inside the vehicle. Three people in the vehicle died as a result of their injuries, the 31-year-old female driver, and her two passengers, a 27-year-old female and an 8-year-old girl. Police have not released their names pending the notification of next of kin.

Martinez then attempted to leave the scene of the crash and would not obey officers' requests to stop, according to the police release.

An officer at the scene had to use their taser on Martinez.

Two passengers in the Armada were injured and taken to an area hospital for treatment. Alex Bolado, 24, from Horizon was injured in the crash. The second passenger, Isaih Dominguez, 21, had serious injuries.

Martinez was also injured in the crash. He is now facing three counts of murder and a count of evading arrest/detention causing death. The total bond is at $3,500,000.

Martinez will be booked into the El Paso County Jail once he is released from the hospital where he is being treated for his injuries.

STI is continuing their investigation and continue to gather evidence..

These are the 57, 58, and 59th traffic fatalities in 2023, compared to 55 for the same time period in 2022.

Police say two other vehicles were also impacted in the crash. The police report did not indicate any injuries to the drivers of those two vehicles.