Posted on 05/12/2005 11:05:34 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Reyes blames accident on road, not alcohol
MATAMOROS, May 12, 2005 — A Rio Grande Valley soldier sitting in a Mexican jail Wednesday said that he had not been drinking at the time of a fatal Sunday morning wreck and that Mexican police were trying to “pin” manslaughter charges on him.
Police maintain that Elmer Reyes, 22, of Mercedes was intoxicated when his truck carrying seven passengers hit a concrete barrier at 7:10 a.m. Sunday and fell more than 20 feet from a highway overpass.
Reyes, a private first class with the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, was charged with three counts of manslaughter after three of his passengers died. Investigators said he could face another charge if a fourth passenger dies in the hospital.
In a jailhouse interview Wednesday, Reyes expressed remorse for the accident and the deaths, but maintains his innocence.
“It was no homicide,” Reyes told The Brownsville Herald from behind a pane of glass at Matamoros’ city jail. “It was an accident.”
The soldier was to report for active duty Friday. Instead he is scheduled to appear in court today.
Investigators insist Reyes and his passengers were all intoxicated at the time of the wreck. Under Mexican law, intoxicated drivers can be prosecuted for manslaughter if they kill another person in an accident.
Investigators told The Herald in a previous interview that they found more than 20 empty bottles of beer in his truck.
Reyes claims he was sober Sunday night.
“There was no alcohol involved,” he said. “That’s what they’re trying to pin on me.”
Instead, Reyes blamed the highway’s design and construction for the accident, which occurred near the city’s Wal-Mart at the intersection of Avenidas Manuel C. Lerma and V. Garza Ruiz.
“It was a bad bridge with bad curves. … They don’t know how to make (roads) here,” he said.
It was not clear Wednesday how or if the charges or the arrest will affect Reyes’ enlistment, but U.S. Army officials said they would stay on top of the case.
Officials said Reyes was a member of the 1st Cavalry Division, but could not verify which unit or how long Reyes had served in the Army.
Deputy spokesman Maj. Philip Smith said the division had returned from Iraq between January and early April. But Reyes said he had only been in the 515th Forward Support Battalion for four months and had not been deployed overseas.
Smith said the Army has been in contact with U.S. Consulate officials in Matamoros but could not provide the soldier with any legal assistance.
“The military does not provide assistance if he is not charged in a military court,” Smith said.
U.S. Consul John Naland said the Matamoros Consulate could not provide any legal assistance either, but had visited the soldier in jail and given a list of licensed Mexican attorneys to his family.
Naland said a Mexican judge would decide how to proceed in the case by Monday.
schapa@brownsvilleherald.com
Dont drink the water there. Will give you the runs for months (or so my relatives told me).
That was the first thing that popped into MY mind. Why in the Hell would someone want to go to Mexico?
It might just be that he's guilty. It kinda looks like it. I doubt if the 20 empty bottles of beer in the cab were there simply so they could make a trash run back to the US.
Nah!!!! it's getting better Fox is sending all his unwanted North.
I spent a week at a resort between Playa del Carmen and Tulum last November.
Lessee, what was great about it.....blue sky...white sand beaches...turqoise ocean...brown girls.....
More than likely they were crushed when the truck rolled down the 20 feet.
What about fishing in Thunder Bay?
The Ring of the Nibelung or, in the original German, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is a series of four epic operas. Both the libretto and the music were written by Richard Wagner over the course of twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874.
It apparently takes four nights to perform and the theater that the poster referred to is the orignal theater that was built by the writer. It is located in Bayreuth, Germany.
According to this account there is a waiting list of several years to get tickets to that theater.
I'm impressed. Very impressed.
Have you actually been to see that? I hadn't heard of it, so I looked it up.
It sounds wonderful. A definite once in a lifetime sort of thing.
I am too as I have "The Ring of the Nibelungen" on cd and listen to it often but had no idea that is where that came from.
I have been to Bayreuth to see Die Meistersinger. That was 4 years ago. It was an experience. I visited Wagner's house, Wahnfried, and listened to Tannhäuser in the room that it was composed in. I saw the Ring Cycle in San Francisco 6 or 7 years ago and it was amazing. I get back from seeing Die Meistersinger in Bayreuth and guess what was next in San Francisco? Die Meistersinger! Same Tenor to boot, Robert Dean Smith, who was amazing.
I had never heard of it. I'll have to try and see it at some point.
Thank you so much for sharing that experience. My interest is definitely up about this and I'm going to try and get to see it when I can.
I'll have to see it stateside though, I won't be able to go to Germany for many, many years, since I'm poor. :-)
Thanks for that link atomic dog. I'm going to try and get my mother to go with me when I'm able to go.
We both love opera.
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