Girl killed, date injured in wreck on prom night.
Graduate-to-be dies, date hurt in crash with alleged drunken driver
The young couple had just finished a late-night snack at IHOP, seemingly flush with happiness after senior prom.
They were driving on Tidwell near Interstate 45 when an alleged drunk driver being chased by police blew through a red light and slammed into their Dodge Charger. First responders rushed to the scene, cutting the 18-year-old driver of the Charger out of the vehicle and rushing him to the hospital. But Jocelynn Valero, also 18, died at the scene, in a mass of mangled metal.
Family members said the two seniors at Yes Prep North Central had been on the way home from prom when the tragedy occurred about 1 a.m. Saturday.
For the Valero family, the grief was overwhelming. One of Jocelyn’s four older brothers, Josecho Valero, was just gunned down outside a nightclub in April. The suspect is still at large.
“Josecho and Jocelynn, please wrap your arms around your Mami, dad, three brothers, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and friends, who love you unconditionally and wish and pray we could just give you one more hug and kiss,” a cousin wrote on Facebook under a picture of Jocelynn in a purple gown with
a tiara, standing by her brother in a gray suit with a matching purple shirt and tie.
Jocelynn had posted about the loss of her brother just weeks earlier: “My precious brother, how we all miss you. Though you were a cranky guy, you had a huge heart, my angel. Watch out for mom, my three brothers and me. I love you my brother.”
Macrina Valero, Jocelynn’s mother, asked Saturday for justice for her daughter, whom she described as a “good, respectful” girl who aspired to become a detective.
“She was everything to me,” Valero said in a post distributed across social media Saturday afternoon.
HPD’s DWI Task Force spotted Edin Palacios-Rodas, the 27-year-old driver of the white pickup, driving erratically early Saturday. An officer attempted to pull him over. He stopped momentarily, but then sped off after the officer got out of his cruiser.
Palacios-Rodas made a U-turn, hopped a curb and barreled through the parking lot of a Fiesta grocery store, said Kese Smith, an HPD spokesman.
Then, Palacios-Rodas turned onto the North Freeway service road, heading north. At Tidwell, the pickup driver ran a red light and slammed into the black Dodge Charger.
Smith said Palacios-Rodas suffered minor injuries and was taken to the hospital in stable condition. He showed signs of intoxication and faces murder charges, Smith said.
The crash turned the Charger into a mess of mangled metal and forced authorities to shut down the intersection for hours as they investigated and cleaned up debris.
As news of the tragedy spread on Saturday, school officials and students took to social media to express their anguish.
“Our entire community is mourning the heartbreaking loss of one of our bright shining stars and praying for the recovery of another student critically injured in the same incident,” YES Prep leaders said in a statement posted to their Facebook page. “We hope that the person responsible for the reckless behavior that prema- turely ended a precious life and endangered another will be held accountable through our justice system and we will support the investigation in every way possible.”
A friend posted a photo of Valero in her black prom gown. “I will never forget my best friend,” she wrote. “The person I always saved a seat for in the morning the only one I could tell all my problems to without judgement. I love you like you were my own sister. And I’m going to miss you so much.”
Friends and relatives expressed outrage about drunk driving and warned others to avoid repeating the mistake.
“My gorgeous sisterin-law. I don’t understand why God took you so soon... just weeks after your brother. I know God doesn’t give us more than we can bear but, this hurts. HURTS SO BAD,” AnaLisa Valero wrote.
A vigil is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the scene of the crash.