SAN ANTONIO – The parents of a man killed by an alleged drunk driver on Memorial Day weekend are not only grieving his death but questioning why it took so long for the suspect to be indicted on a previous crime.
Darion Jude Hendrick-Escobedo, 22, was returning home from fishing when his vehicle was hit head-on on Highway 90 West near State Highway 211, about three minutes away from his home.
“He died of cardiac arrest. The impact literally knocked the life out of him,” Hendrick-Escobedo’s mom, Margaux Escalera, said.
Christopher James Davila was arrested and charged in connection with the crash.
Davila, who had his two young children in the vehicle with him at the time of the crash, was out on bond on a previous charge, Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said.
The three suffered minor injuries in the crash.
This was not the first time that Davila was arrested.
In 2010, then an off-duty SAPD officer, Davila was arrested for fleeing the scene of a crash and charged with failure to provide information. He was convicted and sentenced to probation. He later lost his job at SAPD.
Last year, Davila was arrested on July 4th for evading arrest.
“We are still missing some critical evidence, and so we’re waiting on law enforcement to file the rest of it before we indict the case,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said.
Gonzales said that even if the indictment was made on the third-degree felony charge of evading arrest, Davila could have still been out of jail.
“Most likely he would have been out on probation,” Gonzales said. “That would not have prevented him from driving the streets and committing this offense that was committed last month.”
KSAT 12 spoke with Gonzales about the case on Tuesday. The next day, Davila was officially indicted on the evading arrest charge.
The other charges Davila now faces include intoxication manslaughter, two counts of driving while intoxicated with a child and two counts of injury to a child.
Hendrick-Escobedo’s parents now want to make sure that justice will be served for their son’s death and that the case will not fall through the cracks.
“We want a thorough investigation,” Escalera said. “We want the facts and we want the courage to seek complete justice for my son’s death.”
“We want to make sure this doesn’t happen to somebody else’s child,” Hendrick-Escobedo’s father, Stephen Escobedo, said.
There is usually a 90-day deadline for a grand jury to issue an indictment if the suspect remains in jail. Gonzales said a grand jury will meet the deadline on the remaining charges.
“We’re working hard at getting all the information to make sure that we get that individual indicted within the 90 days,” Gonzales said.
Davila remains in jail on bonds totaling $312,000.
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