Thread: TX:2 men killed when pickup crashes into Dallas bus stop

2 men killed when pickup crashes into Dallas bus stop
Posted Monday, Sep. 13, 2010

By BILL MILLER

wmiller@star-telegram.com

Police believe the driver of a pickup truck was drunk when he crashed into a Dallas bus stop early Monday, killing two homeless men who may have been sleeping there.

Julian Cadena Cerda, 50, was being held in a Dallas County jail Monday morning, facing two counts of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle. No bond information was listed at 11 a.m.

Also U.S. immigration officials have placed a "hold," on him on suspicion that he is an illegal immigrant, jail records show.

The victims' names were not released early Monday because officials were trying to identify them and notify next of kin, said Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther, Dallas police spokeswoman.

The wreck happened at about 2:15 a.m. at the Dallas Area Rapid Transit bus stop in the 5300 block of Harry Hines Boulevard.

The bus stop enclosure, south of Inwood Road, was also across from UT Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital. Investigators believe that a northbound 1999 Chevrolet Silverado "failed to drive in a single lane" and crashed into the bus stop, Crowther said in a news release.

The truck crashed into a tree just north of Butler Street, Crowther said.

Both victims, believed to be in their 30s, were pronounced dead at the scene, Crowther said.

"According to a witnesses, one of the complainants was known to be a regular at the Salvation Army on Harry Hines and sometimes slept in the inside the bus stop enclosure," Crowther said.

The suspect "was found to be intoxicated and was taken into custody by officers," Crowther said.

Jail records show he was arrested in 2007 and 2009 on charges of driving while license suspended, but other information was not immediately available.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/13 ... ashes.html

Makes me want to puke.

More than likley they were Americans doing what the Illegals should be doing--Sleeping in the Streets!

Suspect in deadly Dallas bus stop crash denied being involved despite wrecked pickup

03:07 PM CDT on Monday, September 13, 2010

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN and MAI LYN NGO / The Dallas Morning News
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com
mngo@dallasnews.com

A drunken driving suspect whose pickup skipped a curb and plowed through a bus stop this morning, killing two men inside, denied being involved in an accident when officers found him bloodied near his wrecked Chevrolet Silverado, Dallas police said.

Julian Cadena Cerda, 50, faces two counts of intoxication manslaughter in the crash. He was arrested after failing a field sobriety test and is being held at the Dallas County Jail.

Both victims were apparently sleeping in the Dallas Area Rapid Transit stop shortly after 2 a.m. when the northbound pickup jumped a curb and leveled the structure before striking two trees on Harry Hines Boulevard just south of Inwood Road, according to police documents.

Responding officers found Cerda disoriented with blood on his shirt, arms and face, police said. He said he’d has two beers earlier in the night and had been driving but did not know what had happened, the documents said.

According to the documents, Cerda had "bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, breath smelling of an alcoholic beverage, and unsteady balance." He was unable to perform police tests to determine if he was intoxicated but did consent to a blood draw, the documents said.

Cerda, a resident of Mexico, is suspected of being in the country illegally. His license expired earlier this year, and he also has a 2009 conviction for driving with an invalid license in Dallas County, according to public records. He is not believed to have any prior felony convictions, according to police records.

Both victims, described only as homeless men in their 30s, died at the scene. They were not identified pending notification of family members.

Police said one of the victims was a regular at a nearby Salvation Army shelter but sometimes slept at the bus stop.

Salvation Army spokesman Pat Patey said the shelter was not at capacity Sunday night, so the men would have been welcome there, as long as they were sober.

"Had they wanted to be inside, they could have," he said. "That's their decision."

Reginald Meriweather, a youth minister who volunteers at the shelter, said he rushed in when he heard about the crash. He said he may have known one of the victims.

"It's sad to have people right outside two shelters to be sleeping outside and hungry," he said.

Two passers-by, who identified themselves as homeless, were shocked to learn of the deaths, though neither apparently knew the victims.

"Dang, we used to sit there and wait for the bus," Mingo Cruz said.

He and Debra Carter surveyed the crumpled awning and metal posts jutting out of the ground that were all that was left of the bus stop. A tree was also uprooted by the impact.

"That's just sad," Carter said.

see picture of Cerda and read what people are saying:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c020b.html