Suspect in deadly street race surrenders
Relatives of couple killed offer forgiveness, urge the driver of other car to step forward
Just hours after a suspect turned himself in for questioning in the fatal street-racing crash that killed a Baptist minister and his wife, the couple’s grieving family offered heartfelt forgiveness to the 21-year-old man.
“We don’t hate you. We love you,” Allan Sabillon, the youngest son of Jesse Estrada and Maria Sabillon, said Friday. “We forgive you, and we thank you for turning yourself in. You did the right thing.”
Sabillon also urged the driver of the other vehicle believed involved in the race to step forward.
“For those other individuals, we ask that you do the right thing yourself,” he said during a news conference at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. “Turn yourself in. Be a man. Stand up. Be courageous.”
The couple, who had been married more than 30 years, were killed late Tuesday in northwest Harris County after returning home from visiting a niece and her newborn at a local hospital.
Investigators say the couple’s 2004 BMW was struck by a 2006 Chevrolet pickup that ran a red light while street racing with another vehicle.
The driver of the truck then fled on foot. The driver of the other vehicle, described as a Chrysler Challenger or Dodge Charger, stopped at the red light, then drove away.
Investigators identified the suspected driver of the truck as Alexis De La Rosa Sosa, 21. He has been charged with two counts of felony racing and two counts of failure to stop and render aid.
Sosa turned himself in at a Harris County corrections office about 7:30 a.m. Friday, just as officers with a joint law enforcement task force had ended an overnight search. Sosa said he had seen himself on television and decided to surrender.
Sosa gave a voluntary statement indicating he was “aware of the accident” and led investigators to believe that he had been at the scene, said Capt. Q.V. Whitaker, who heads the sheriff ’s office traffic enforcement division.
Sosa was limping with a swollen left foot, had visible injuries to his face and asked for
water.
Medical staff was called, but he agreed to speak to investigators.
Sosa has no criminal history in Harris County, but investigators still are trying to determine whether he had a history of racing, Whitaker said.
At the news conference Friday, the couple’s relatives expressed gratitude to law enforcement and the community.
Estrada, 60, was co-pastor at Iglesia Nuevo Amanecer Bautista and owner of JJ & Sons Remodeling. Sabillon, 68, was a retired home caregiver for specialneeds children.
The family described their mother as “always a lady.”
“They instilled into us good morals and good values and good, hard, honest work and education,” son Jesse Vladimir Sabillon said.
Investigators are still trying to determine how fast the truck was traveling, Whitaker said.
The vehicle has a Texas tag and officials are investigating the truck’s registered owner.
Under Texas law, basic street racing charge is a Class B misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of 180 days in jail, a $2,000 fine and suspension of the driver’s license.
The crime can escalate to a felony if there is serious bodily injury or death. Repeat offenders can be charged with a seconddegree felony, which could result in up to 20 years in prison and as fine as high as $10,000.