SAN ANTONIO – Update:
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the passenger who died after a car drove off IH-35 and landed in the street.
The woman was identified as 33-year-old Amber Ponce.
Ponce’s death was classified as a homicide, with the cause being a cervical injury.
Original:
A woman is dead and a man is in the hospital following a vehicle crash near downtown early Thursday morning, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said.
The crash occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Interstate 35 South, near the Frio Street ramp.
According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a deputy was attempting to pull the vehicle over after spotting the car going roughly 40 mph on the highway. That’s when, Salazar said, the driver began to pull over, but instead sped off.
The sheriff said the deputy was about to radio in the pursuit when the crash happened.
The black mustang went over the edge of the highway near the Frio/Cesar Chavez ramp over the concrete barrier and then landed on the street below, near a fire station. A female passenger inside the vehicle was killed, Salazar said.
The sheriff said at a later press conference that James Chancellor, 19, was the man driving and he was taken to an area hospital after the crash. He has since been charged with murder. Salazar said Chancellor had a probation violation for a felony unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
The BCSO said there was also a crash a while back in the same spot with similar results, so it’s unclear if the damage to the highway wall was from the current crash. When the car came off the highway, it hit a memorial that was set up for the previous crash, Salazar said.