SAN ANTONIO – Police say a 28-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter died after a man suspected of driving while intoxicated rear-ended their car while it was pulled over on the side of the highway.
"We've lost two members of our family that we love very much and our family will never be the same, because he decided to get in the car drunk," Brandi Rose, Jessica Rodriguez' best friend said.
The crash happened around 12:30 a.m. Thursday on Interstate 10 Eastbound between West Avenue and Fresno Drive.
Police said Rodriguez and her daughter, Kaylee Flores, were inside the vehicle while the woman's fiancé was changing a flat tire on the shoulder of the interstate.
Moments later, a Jeep Cherokee driven by Christopher Hughes, 25, slammed into the vehicle at a high rate of speed and sent it 130 feet down the interstate, police said.
Rodriguez' fiancée, Eric Canales, managed to get out of the way before the Jeep crashed into it.
"The car was demolished. I couldn't even get her out of the car or anything. It's a horrible feeling, like you can't do anything to help the people you love," said Canales.
Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the scene. Kaylee was pronounced dead a short time later at the hospital.
"They were two amazing people full of life. If you knew my sister she could make you laugh. If you knew my niece, she was the smartest 10-year-old you'd ever meet," Savannah Salazar, Rodriguez's sister, said.
The man changing the tire avoided the crash and suffered minor injuries, police said. He was treated at University Hospital.
Police said Hughes was intoxicated and suffered minor injuries.
Hughes was given a mandatory blood sample and charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter.
Investigators said the group was returning home from celebrating Rodriguez' birthday.