Nueces County, TX — August 31, 2023, Hayley Ramirez and one other were killed and a baby was injured in a drunk driving accident before midnight on F.M. 624.
Public statements say the crash happened at around 11:13 p.m. near the intersection of F.M. 624 and County Road 79, which appears to be just west of Calallen.
According to officials, 19-year-old Hayley Ramirez and her one-year-old daughter were in a Chevy Camaro traveling on F.M. 624 when a driver—who police allege was intoxicated—drove on the wrong side of the road and crashed into Ramirez head-on.
As a result of the collision, Ramirez sustained fatal injuries while her daughter suffered a severe spinal injury. The driver of the Dodge also died in the crash.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
Despite working with hundreds of families who went through similar situations, reading about something this awful never gets any easier. A family lost a sister and a daughter, and a child will have to grow up without her mother. It’s the sort of thing that everyone can agree warrants consequences to the full extent of the law.
But the driver police say was responsible for this crash died, as well. That’s certainly a consequence, but a grieving family seeing a drunk driver face a jury and an appropriate prison sentence can be an important step toward closure. What a lot of folks don’t realize, however, is that drunk drivers aren’t always the only ones who can face criminal consequences after a drunk driving accident like this.
Authorities said in a preliminary crash summary that the driver of the Dodge was seen at a local bar before the collision. As mentioned before, authorities say the driver was nearly three times the legal limit. Why does that matter? Put simply, if a bar illegally over-serves someone, they could potentially face criminal liability.
I recall a horrible incident I handled a while back in which a customer was illegally over-served to the point he died from alcohol poisoning in the establishment’s parking lot. The authorities ended up investigating that bar, and the employees who contributed to the victim’s death ended up in handcuffs. While I wasn’t a part of those criminal proceedings (I was handling the wrongful death case against the bar), it was encouraging to see authorities were taking something so awful that seriously and ensuring there was accountability across the board.
Not every police department takes matters that seriously. Sometimes they don’t even consider looking into bars, other times they don’t have the resources to do the job properly. Just because a drunk driver dies doesn’t mean there isn’t someone else who still needs to be held accountable.
