A man has been charged in connection with a fatal car accident that left five people dead and 11 injured on a major Austin, Texas highway Thursday night.
Solomun Weldekeal Araya, 37, is charged with five counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault, according to the Austin Police Department (APD) in a March 14 email to NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media.
Araya, who is currently in custody at the Travis County Jail, was due in court on March 19 for a prior traffic violation involving speeding that occurred on Feb. 27 in Dallas County, according to Wilmer Municipal Court records.
The five killed in the crash include three adults, one infant, and a child.
The fatal pileup, which occurred at about 11:30 p.m., involved 17 vehicles that included an 18-wheeler semi-truck, and resulted in six car passengers being pinned inside their vehicles, according to Austin-Travis County EMS spokeswoman Captain Christa Stedman, who was on site of the crash.
“I’ve worked here for 18 years and I cannot remember an incident like this on I-35,” Stedman told NTD in a March 14 email.
“The collision was very large and very complex,” APD officer Austin Zarling said.
A witness named Edgar Viera, who consoled the injured, said he tried to help people out of their mangled cars but he didn’t have the proper tools. Some were already deceased.
The APD declined to comment when NTD asked whether Araya was driving the 18-wheeler.
Viera said he was on his way to Killeen to visit his girlfriend and had stopped on the side of the road for a break when he heard the crash occur.
“I was standing in front of my vehicle and I started hearing scratches and booms and booms,” Viera said. “I turn around and just keep on seeing a lot of dust blowing up, a lot of metals blowing up.”
Cars that were not involved in the accident were cleared off the roadway by 3 a.m. with the assistance of the Austin-Travis County EMS, Austin Fire, Pflugerville Fire, Austin Police, Travis County Sherriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Transportation Highway Emergency Response Operator Service, and the Travis County Medical Examiner.
The roadway was still closed on March 14, according to Stedman.
“Scenes this large with this many critical patients are incredibly complex to manage, and it was spread out over a good distance,” she added.
The accident stretched a 10th of a mile going Southbound on I-35 between Howard Lane and Parmer Lane in North Austin.
