Thread: TX TV: APD to continue aggressive DWI enforcement, Acevedo s

TV: APD to continue aggressive DWI enforcement, Acevedo says

06:41 PM CDT on Thursday, September 3, 2009

By CLARA TUMA / KVUE News

A 23-year-old whose record includes three convictions for DWI has become the fourth defendant in Travis County history to be charged with murder after a fatal DWI wreck.
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September 3rd, 2009
KVUE's Clara Tuma reports


* Driver in deadly East Austin crash ID'd, charged with murder (September 3)

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Jaime Bonilla Alvarado is in the Travis County Jail in lieu of $750,000 bond and an immigration hold.

He is accused of running a red light and killing an innocent driver while being chased by police in East Austin Monday night.

Killed was Robert Benn, who had just arrived in Austin on a business trip from Tennessee. Benn, who became a grandfather earlier in the day, was on his way from Austin Bergstrom International Airport to his hotel when he was struck and killed. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police Chief Art Acevedo says he will not change the police pursuit policy because of the wreck and says he wants his officers to continue to aggressively try to stop suspected drunk drivers.

"When we identify a drunk driver, we know it is akin to a shot that's been fired from a gun, that that vehicle is a deadly weapon in the hands of somebody that has no business driving it," he said. "We don't know where that bullet is going to land, where that vehicle is going to land, where it's going to crash. At least by the efforts of the Austin Police Department we can warn people with our lights and sirens engaging in trying to stop that individual rather than just let him go and see who he kills."

Acevedo says he wants murder charges filed on anyone who kills someone while being chased by police.

"If you run from the police in this city and if somebody dies as a result of your running, we will aggressively pursue murder charges, whether you're sober or you're drunk," Acevedo said.

Court records show that Alvarado has been convicted of DWI three times. In July of last year he was sentenced to 80 days in jail, and his driver's license was revoked for one year.

A police affidavit says that about 10 p.m. Monday night, an officer sitting at East Cesar Chavez and N. Pleasant Valley Road heard a vehicle playing loud music and saw the vehicle, a 2001 Lincoln Navigator SUV, driving at a high rate of speed.

The officer says he turned on his emergency lights to get the Lincoln to stop. The driver slowed down but continued driving, throwing several beer bottles out his window as he went.

The officer says that after passing a police substation on Springdale Road, the driver of the Navigator sped up and continued at a high rate of speed for several blocks.

Police say Alvarado ran a red light at Airport Blvd. and Bolm Road, striking a rental car being driven by Benn.

A police affidavit says Alvarado's blood alcohol level was .20, more than twice the legal limit.

"Blame belongs in only one place, and that's in the hands of the drunk driver," Acevedo said.

Police are accusing Alvarado of felony murder, defined as causing a death while in the course of committing a felony, in this case evading police and driving drunk.

Accused drunk drivers have faced murder charges in Travis County three other times. In two cases, the defendants pleaded guilty to murder. In the third, a jury convicted the defendant of murder.

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/ ... 6a1d9.html

Court records show that Alvarado has been convicted of DWI three times. In July of last year he was sentenced to 80 days in jail, and his driver's license was revoked for one year.

How many times must we read these kind of stories and KNOW it could have been prevented if the IA had been deported after the first contact with law enforcement?

I hope the Benn family sues all the government agencies that failed to enforce laws on the books!

Austin has been a sanctuary city and the crime problem,break in, hit & run, gang problems, appear to me to be on the increase, my question for the city of Austin leaders is why do you want this and how has it helped the city and its economy.

I wrote a number of letters to local Representatives in past few years on this issue and many times did not even receive a response, one only needs to watch the daily news in Austin to see the results.