SAN ANTONIO – A 30-year-old man has been charged with capital murder in connection with a police chase that ended in a crash, killing a 3-year-old boy.
According to the San Antonio Police Department's Facebook page, David Rodriguez was charged in the death of Walter Maspero.
Police said the vehicle Walter was riding in was struck by the suspected drug buyer around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 35 near Shepherd Road in south Bexar County.
Rodriguez was being monitored during an undercover drug sting when officers observed several people buying illegal narcotics from a home, police said.
"They observed as several vehicles were loaded with large amounts of marijuana and departed the location," said Sgt. Javier Salazar, of the San Antonio Police Department. "What they were doing is stopping the vehicles as they were leaving and each traffic stop resulting in several hundred pounds of marijuana in each vehicle."
Police said Rodriguez fled after an officer attempted to pull him over and then made a U-turn in an attempt to ram the police vehicle in pursuit.
"The suspect vehicle actually at one point did a U-turn and turned on the officer in the marked unit," Salazar said. "He actually tried to ram her head-on."
The officer avoided the collision, but Rodriguez's SUV struck a station wagon carrying Walter, three other young children and their parents. They were taken to University Hospital in critical condition. An update on their condition has not been made available Thursday morning.
Rodriguez was also taken to a hospital and he was expected to recover. He also faces charges of evading arrest, manslaughter and federal drug conspiracy.
Police did not give full details of the undercover operation, but several people were reportedly arrested and face felony drug charges.