The driver accused of running over and killing eight people outside a migrant facility in Brownsville, Texas, over the weekend was identified Monday as a 34-year-old with a lengthy rap sheet.
George Alvarez was arraigned Monday on eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the horrifying crash on Sunday morning. He was ordered held on a bail of $3.6 million.
Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda said it’s still unclear whether the mass killing was an intentional act by Alvarez—who has a lengthy criminal record, according to Sauceda—or an accident. He said cops are still awaiting toxicology results and wouldn’t comment on reports that Alvarez hurled anti-immigrant comments as he was taken into custody.
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“The SUV ran a red light, lost control, clipped on his side and struck a total of 18 individuals,” Sauceda said.
Records show that Alvarez lives in Brownsville, a city of 187,000 that borders Matamoros, Mexico.
Cops displayed a placard next to Alvarez’s mugshot during a Monday press conference that listed his criminal history. It said Alvarez has prior charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault against an elderly or disabled person, four counts of assault causing bodily injury to a family member, and at least 11 other charges.
Alvarez pleaded guilty to a charge of assault on a public servant in 2006 for allegedly hitting a detention officer at a jail in Brownsville, according to a trial summary shared by Georgetown Law. He was sentenced to eight years in prison, but had the charges dropped in 2010 after an appeals court—with newly released video in Alvarez’s defense—found him to be innocent.
A lawyer for Alvarez, Eddie Lucio, asked the Supreme Court to review the case, but was ultimately denied. The Associated Press, citing court docs, reported in 2018 that Alvarez was a 17-year-old special education student still in the ninth grade when he was arrested in 2005.
Reached by phone, Lucio’s law office didn’t immediately return an interview request from The Daily Beast, nor did people listed in public records as Alvarez’s relatives.
Records show that a 35-year-old Jesus Alvarez Jr, who’s residential address is the same as George, is serving a prison sentence for assaulting a family member and evading arrest with a vehicle. He will be eligible for parole next month.
Prosecutors asked a judge to hold Alvarez without bail at his arraignment Monday, video from Valley Central showed.
Alvarez’s defense countered he wasn’t a flight risk because he’s lived his whole life in Brownsville, where he has a job and raised six kids. The defense requested a total bail of $700,000—a plea ignored by the judge.
Alvarez only spoke at the hearing to confirm his citizenship, give his age and to acknowledge he understood his rights.
Sunday’s crash happened at a bus stop in front of the Ozanam Center, a homeless and migrant shelter. Six people died at the scene and two others died at a hospital, Sauceda said. Ten more were “critically” injured.
Many of the victims were Venezuelan nationals who were new to the country, and Sauceda said his department is working with the Venezuelan government, as well as other embassies, to identify and provide information about those killed.
The chief confirmed what videos from the scene showed yesterday, saying bystanders stopped Alvarez from fleeing and detained him until cops arrived. Photos from the scene showed significant damage to the front of a silver Range Rover, which had a shattered windshield.
Victor Maldonado, the shelter’s director, told The New York Times on Sunday that “bodies just started going everywhere, all directions” once the SUV crashed through the group of about 20 people.
There’s been an uptick in violence against migrants in recent years, including the slaying of 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019.
