A Texas mom and her 7-year-old child were killed when a teen driver plowed through their home in the middle of the night, according to police and reports.
Gracie Yates, 18, was arrested after she allegedly crashed into the bedroom of 7-year-old Alex Aaron Rocha and 49-year-old Barbara Rocha in Stephenville just after 3:20 a.m. Sunday, according to the Stephenville Police Department and Fox4.
Both the mother and son died from their injuries despite life-saving efforts, cops said.
“‘All I heard is a crash, I went in the room, and all you can hear is my little brother screaming and my mom praying,’” Raul Rocha, Alex Rocha’s older brother, recounted to Fox4 what his other sibling told him he witnessed during the fatal crash.
“That’s what he said … I have that stuck in the back of my head right now.”
“I never imagined this to happen to me. I never imagined losing my mom. My mom does not deserve this,” Rocha said. “She was so sweet. She always cared about us. She cared about anybody around her.”
The 18-year-old faces two charges of criminally negligent homicide, according to jail records reviewed by Law&Crime. Police did not say whether she was impaired while driving.
A GoFundMe created for the family of Barbara and Alex, however, alleged that a “drunk driver” was responsible for the “unimaginable” loss.
“Recently, a drunk driver crashed through Alfredo’s house, taking the lives of his beloved wife and son. In an instant, Alfredo lost his family and the place he called home,” the fundraiser statement said.
“Alfredo and his family are good people who did not deserve to have this tragedy happen to them because of a drunk driver,” the statement continued.
The heartbroken father is “now without a house and is struggling to cover the funeral costs for his wife and son. He’s also in urgent need of temporary housing and support for other immediate needs as he tries to rebuild.”
Yates was released on a $14,500 bond on Tuesday, court records obtained by Law&Crime showed.
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing, cops said.
Read the full article here