EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A 20-year-old woman who is facing a manslaughter charge in a fatal crash that killed a motorcyclist was traveling more than 100 mph at the time of the crash, and she admitted to police that she was looking down to select a song on her cell phone when the crash happened.
That is according to court documents obtained by KTSM.
Marissa Arlene Dominguez, 20, was arrested Sept. 11 and charged with manslaughter in the Aug. 31 crash that killed 48-year-old Alejandro Rodriguez.
Woman arrested in crash that killed motorcyclist in East El Paso
The crash happened at about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 31 along Interstate 10 West at Don Haskins. Police said that Rodriguez was rear-ended and thrown from his motorcycle. He died at the scene.
According to court documents, Dominguez said she was out celebrating her friend’s 21st birthday and admitted to having drank several alcoholic drinks.
She told officers that her father had been killed by a drunk driver and that “she would never wish that on someone else’s family.”
Dominguez, who is not of legal drinking age, told officers that she understood she was still a minor in the eyes of the law but believed that she could still operate a motor vehicle.
When she gave a breath specimen, the results came back at 0.047 and 0.046, about half of the legal limit for alcohol, according to court documents.
Dominguez also admitted to initially lying to police when they first talked to her. She had told them that the motorcyclist had merged into her lane at the last minute, and she hit him.
She said she had lied because she was scared, according to court documents.
She then told police that she saw a motorcyclist ahead of her in the same lane. She said she looked down to select a song on her cell phone and then she felt the collision with the motorcycle.
Police said they used crash data from her vehicle that indicated she was traveling 118 mph at the time of the crash. Crash data also indicated that she did not apply her brakes to prevent the crash.
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