Montgomery County, TX — September 29, 2024, J. Leonides Sapien Esquivel was injured due to an alleged drunk driver accident at around 6:20 p.m. along Fryer Street.
Authorities said in preliminary statements that the crash happened in the area of Fryer Street and North 1st Street.
According to officials, 58-year-old J. Leonides Sapien Esquivel was on foot at the time along the side of Fryer by some stationary vehicles. Off North 1st, it’s said that a southbound GMC Sierra lost control and ran onto Fryer. There, the pickup struck Sapien Esquivel and the parked vehicles.
Sapien Esquivel was seriously injured due to the accident. There did not appear to be any other confirmed injuries. Authorities allege that the GMC driver may have been under the influence of alcohol at the time and recommended charges including intoxication assault. No further information can be confirmed right now.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
While it isn’t necessarily confirmed that alcohol was a factor here, authorities recommending charges is rather damning. Simply put, intoxication assault requires proof that a driver was intoxicated, and that the intoxication was the cause of the injuries. Here’s why that matters after an accident like this.
While I don’t deal with criminal matters, our firm has to prove a driver’s intoxication quite frequently when we go after negligent bars who over-served drunk drivers. To do that, we’ve used all kinds of evidence, including security video, witness statements, deposition of servers, receipts and credit card statements, and even texts and social media posts.
Of course, that’s just to overcome the standard of proof in civil courts, which is that a driver was “more likely than not” intoxicated. For authorities to prove that someone was intoxicated “beyond a reasonable doubt,” they usually have to be pretty darn confident they can make their case. It makes me wonder what evidence they may have here that makes them confident enough to recommend pursuing charges.
call us 
Email Us 
Text us