SEAGOVILLE, Texas — Two people were arrested in connection with a fatal crash that claimed the lives of three people last week.
SEAGOVILLE, Texas — Two people were arrested in connection with a fatal crash that claimed the lives of three people last week.
The crash occurred just after 1 a.m., on August 7, 2022, on U.S. Highway 175 on the Kaufman County side of the Seagoville city limits.
In an update Friday morning, police identified the driver of the wrong-way vehicle, a blue Chevrolet pickup truck, as 25-year-old Jose Abel Arriaga Contreras of Dallas, Texas.
Police say Contreras was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes when he struck a Toyota sedan head-on. Three occupants of the sedan were killed in the crash; they were identified as 49-year-old Ana Teresa Guzman de Pena of Kaufman County, her daughter 23-year-old Jessica Nayeli Pena Guzman of Katy, Texas, and Jessica's nearly 3-year-old daughter, who was not identified by police.
Contreras was flown to a Dallas-area hospital with what police described as significant injuries. He was released from the hospital yesterday, August 18, 2022, and immediately taken into police custody.
Contreras was transported to the Kaufman County Jail and charged with three counts of manslaughter, second-degree felonies, and is being held on bonds totaling $3 million.
Moments after the initial impact between Contreras' pickup truck and the Toyota sedan, a second pickup truck, traveling eastbound in the eastbound lanes behind the Toyota, struck the rear of the Toyota with "significant impact," according to Friday's update from police.
That pickup truck was described by witnesses as a green Dodge pickup truck. This vehicle was located soon after the crash abandoned on the shoulder of eastbound U.S. Highway 175 in Crandall. During the investigation, detectives identified the driver of the Dodge pickup truck as 30-year-old James Dylan Gaddis of Crandall, Texas.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for Gaddis on August 11, 2022, for a second-degree felony charge of accident involving death. Gaddis surrendered to the Seagoville Police Department on August 12, 2022, posted bond, and has since been released.
Police say additional charges are pending against Contreras in connection with the crash as investigating officers at the scene of the crash suspect intoxication as a factor.