Update (November 3, 2025): Authorities have identified the person killed in this accident as 50-year-old Gloria Patricia Castro.
San Antonio, TX — October 19, 2025, one person was killed and another was injured in an alleged drunk driver accident at about 11:45 p.m. on Interstate 35.
Authorities said a 2021 Chevrolet Silverado was going the wrong way in the northbound lanes of the interstate when it crashed head-on into a 2024 Chevrolet Express van near St. Mary’s Street.
A passenger in the van, a 50-year-old woman, died at the scene of the crash, according to authorities, while the driver, a 50-year-old man, was hospitalized in critical condition. Their names have not been made public yet.
The pickup driver has been charged with intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault in the wake of the crash, authorities said.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the Bexar County crash at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When I read about incidents like this one, what stands out to me isn’t just what happened, but what’s missing from the conversation. An alleged wrong-way driver is facing serious criminal charges related to intoxication, and yet almost no one is asking the next obvious questions: Where did this person get their alcohol, and should someone else be held accountable for letting things get this far?
Under Texas law, it’s not just the person behind the wheel who may bear responsibility in drunk driving crashes. If a bar, restaurant or other alcohol provider served an obviously intoxicated person before they got on the road, that provider may have broken the law, and could be held liable under our state’s dram shop statute. These are difficult questions to raise, especially after a fatal incident, but they matter. They matter because this isn’t just about one person’s bad decision. It may also be about a system that allowed, or even enabled, that decision to happen.
It may be surprising, but in many drunk driving crash investigations, authorities lack the resources and support necessary to investigate where the alleged drunk driver was drinking prior to the crash. That means vital questions often go unanswered; questions that could help families understand what really happened, and possibly prevent similar incidents in the future.
If alcohol played a role here, there’s a legal avenue to examine whether someone else helped make this situation possible. That’s the kind of question dram shop law is built to answer. It doesn’t take the place of criminal charges; it complements them by focusing on what happened before the keys were ever in the ignition.
Ultimately, crashes like this one raise larger issues about responsibility and oversight. They force us to look not just at the outcome, but at the chain of decisions that led up to it. And they remind us that accountability doesn’t stop with the driver, especially if a licensed alcohol provider ignored the signs and kept serving anyway.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Dram shop law exists to hold alcohol providers accountable when they overserve obviously intoxicated customers who go on to cause harm.
- A full investigation should include where the alleged drunk driver was drinking, but that often doesn’t happen without outside help.
- Many families don’t realize they have legal options, even in the aftermath of a serious crash. The law offers tools that many people don’t know they can use.
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