Criminal charges expected soon for woman who killed Dallas police officer Jacob Arellano
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Criminal charges are likely to be announced soon against a woman whose wrong way trip down a freeway killed a Dallas police officer.
Jacob Arellano was on his way to begin his work shift when a suspected drunk driver hit his SUV head on.
It's expected that the wrong way driver, whose name has not officially been released, will be charged with intoxication manslaughter following the deadly head on collision. A collision that left officers who responded to the scene of traumatized.
Police radio traffic recorded officers trying to stop a car going southbound in the northbound lanes of Spur 408 close to midnight on Tuesday.
When the vehicle crashed head on into an SUV and big rig, responding officers were surprised to find one of the badly injured victims in a Dallas police uniform.
"it just doesn't go away... this is going to be stuck in my head for a very long time," said Sgt. Michael Mata with the Dallas Police Association.
Mata was one of those officers who arrived on the scene when a desperate effort was underway to pull Arellano, who was on his way to work, out of the wreckage.
"It's hard when you see the every day citizen that is injured severely injured officers have to take it home will be twice as bad if not even more when it's one of your own and a lot of the officers around there knew him."
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia described the moments after.
"Officer Arellano's name was called as it always is at the start of the shift. Only, officer Arellano didn't answer," Chief Garcia said. "It was at this time members of First Watch started making calls trying to find out where their brother could be."
Arellano died at a hospital. He was just 25-years-old and left behind an 8-month-old son.
Fellow officers lined up outside Methodist Hospital for a somber procession from there to the medical examiner's office, where the investigation will continue. The 30-year-old wrong way driver, who is hospitalized with serious injuries, was believed to be drunk.
Terrance Hopkins, who leads the Black Police Association, says the loss of the young officer is hard to accept.
"It's a traffic accident involving an alleged DWI which is something that should just never happen in the age of Uber and Lyft and all the ride share companies," Hopkins said.
Arellano's death will be classified as on duty since he was headed to work.
