Jury deliberating case of man accused in Brownsville bus stop crash that killed 8

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BROWNSVILLE — A jury is deliberating whether a Brownsville man was intoxicated when he ran a red light and crashed into 18 people at a bus stop outside the Ozanam Center, killing eight people.

George Alvarez has been on trial since Monday on eight counts of intoxication manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Tuesday, Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said.

The jury took the case at 3 p.m.

The crash happened on May 7, 2023 at approximately 8:29 a.m.

Jose Cario-Moreno, Cristian Sangranis Rodriguez, Brayan Garcia, Hector Medina Medero, Enyerbeth Cabarcas, Luis Matute Vasquez, Jorge Flores Colina and Richard Bustamante Perez died that day.

During closing arguments, Alvarez’s defense attorney, Cesar De Leon, told jurors that the first thing his client told him when he met him was that he was not intoxicated.

De Leon said he believes Alvarez.

The crux of the issue is that a cocaine metabolite was found in Alvarez’s system.

Alvarez claims that he used cocaine several days before the crash, but that he was not high during the crash.

Prosecutors do not believe him.

Art Teniente, the prosecutor trying the case, told jurors during closing that the defense wants them to ignore the mountain of evidence that says Alvarez was intoxicated and that everybody who had significant contact with him after the crash agreed.

On Thursday morning, Alvarez was nearly kicked out of his own trial.

This happened after he stood up and attempted to address the judge and other attorneys. The judge presiding over the case admonished him and said that if he did that again he would be kicked out.

The jury was allowed to go home at approximately 4:40 p.m. Thursday and will return to deliberate Friday morning.

State rests in trial of man who killed 8 migrants in crash at Brownsville bus stop