El Paso, TX — September 22, 2024, Martha Saenz and two others were injured following an alleged DWI accident at around 2:15 p.m. along West Paisano Drive.
Authorities said in preliminary statements that the accident happened in the area of West Paisano Drive and South Coldwell Street.
Investigators said that 35-year-old Martha Saenz and two minors, ages 15 and 3, were in a Hyundai Accent going westbound on Paisano. A Ford Mustang was reportedly going the wrong direction on westbound Paisano, and it crashed into Saenz’s Hyundai. As a result, the 15-year-old in Saenz’s vehicle had serious injuries. Martha Saenz and the 3-year-old reportedly had less serious injuries.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
The wrong-way driver had allegedly been drinking, and authorities recommended charges for DWI. If the allegations are true, it frankly wouldn’t be surprising. Alcohol is far and away the most common reason people get on the wrong side of the road. What I have yet to see, though, is if authorities are looking into where this alleged alcohol from. Wrong-way accidents tend to involve drivers who were unlawfully over-served by a negligent alcohol provider, and those alcohol providers shouldn’t be let off the hook.
For example, I handled a case not long ago involving a drunk driver who turned into oncoming lanes and hit a family’s car head-on. As a result, a young child was almost killed. The family thought authorities were getting all the facts, but we pointed out to them there weren’t any investigations into the bar that served the driver. Thanks to our independent investigations, it came light that servers broke the law and egregiously over-served the driver. It got to the point he could barely walk, yet servers kept pouring drinks. After our investigations, the family was actually shocked authorities never bothered conducting their own investigations.
Unfortunately, examples like that are more common than they should be. I can’t count how many times across hundreds of alcohol-related accident cases we investigated a negligent alcohol provider who never made it onto the authorities’ radar unless we put them there ourselves. Maybe authorities here have been more thorough, and maybe this all comes down to a single reckless driver’s mistake. But if there was an accomplice to all of this, the victims involved deserve to know they, too, will face appropriate consequences.
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