Driver in crash that injured girl released on bond

HOUSTON (FOX 26) — The impact was vicious. Prosecutors say Israel Suarez Lugo drove past a red traffic light and slammed his truck into a Cadillac where a young girl was a passenger.

"She is fighting for her life," said Sean Teare, the chief of the Harris County District Attorney's Office vehicular crimes unit. "The doctors are working literally around the clock and we are monitoring that as well."

The district attorney's office has hit Lugo with a second intoxicated assault charge because the girl's aunt also suffered injuries. Prosecutors said that before the crash, Lugo had been drinking at Time Out #1 sports bar. The management is cooperating with the investigation.

"As we dig through what is sure to be a lot of evidence from the bar, we'll have either more charges or more questions for people there," said Teare.

It was a blood- and alcohol-soaked weekend on area roads. Two people died and two people were arrested in a drunk driving wreck on the 610 West Loop. There was also another deadly crash on the Loop that same night. Investigators believe that was also alcohol-related. On Tidwell Road, a suspected drunk driver drove up onto the sidewalk and killed a pedestrian before driving away. Houston and Harris County have long had a problem with drinking and driving, but authorities had been making progress in curtailing it and saving lives.

"We've seen the numbers tick downwards since we started the task force and going after the source and really started a crackdown," added Teare. "We all hope and pray that this is an aberration." 

Lugo has been released on bond.