A Dallas man accused of causing a fatal drunk-driving crash initially denied consuming alcohol to police, despite registering a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit, according to an arrest affidavit.
Joel Avalos, 31, faces charges of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury following the February 2 collision on Singleton Boulevard, which killed a 33-year-old man and left two others with severe injuries, including broken bones and brain damage.
Avalos provided conflicting accounts of the night.
He told officers he hadn’t been drinking and blamed the other driver, saying, “I was driving, and the car crashed into me. I was coming from my friend’s house by Kiest Park and headed home,” Fox 4 KDFW reported.
However, he admitted to hospital staff that he had consumed alcohol, and a blood test revealed a level of approximately .26 — far exceeding Texas’s .08 limit. The affidavit also notes he was not wearing a seat belt.
Witnesses reported that Avalos’ eastbound pickup truck ran a red light before slamming into the victims’ sedan at the intersection of Singleton Boulevard and N. Hampton Road. The impact severely damaged the sedan, pinning multiple occupants underneath one of the vehicles and requiring emergency crews to use the jaws of life for extraction on the driver’s side.
Devon Mobley, who witnessed the crash with his wife, called it “one of the most horrific wrecks I’ve seen,” per Fox 4. He described Avalos at the scene as “so off his rocks it was wild. He couldn’t keep eye contact, though his eyes kept rolling. That’s how drunk he was.”
The 33-year-old male passenger in the sedan succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital, while the two surviving victims remain hospitalized. Their current conditions were not immediately available.
