MABANK, Texas — A Mabank man has been charged with manslaughter in connection with a fatal crash earlier this year.
MABANK, Texas — A Mabank man has been charged with manslaughter in connection with a fatal crash earlier this year.
A Kaufman County grand jury handed down the manslaughter indictment last week for 26-year-old Porfirio Lopez III of Mabank.
According to a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) crash report obtained by inForney.com, Lopez was driving a 2011 BMW on Farm-to-Market (FM) 1836 when he approached a curve near County Road 111, failed to maintain a single lane, and west off the east side of the roadway in a curve. The BMW struck a tree stump, then two trees, and spun out and struck a concrete culvert.
During the crash, 19-year-old Alyssa Tate was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced deceased at the scene.
Lopez was taken to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and later booked into the Kaufman County Jail — charged with intoxication manslaughter. He was released from the Kaufman County Jail the next day after posting a $50,000 bond.
DPS obtained Lopez's medical records from the hospital.
"The records state that the driver of Unit #1's blood alcohol content was 202.9 mg/dL and was positive for Cannabinoids," states the DPS crash report.
Its unknown, at the time of press, what led to a grand jury indictment for manslaughter instead of Lopez's original charge of intoxication manslaughter.
According to court records, Lopez is being represented by court appointed attorney Taryn Davis.
In October 2014, Davis also represented John English in a similar case. English was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 40 years. Two months prior, Davis represented Warren Ray Patton who was also convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years. Both had faced intoxication manslaughter charges. Both crashes also resulted in the death or serious injury of a law enforcement officer.