Man in 2018 fatal North Lubbock drunken wreck placed on probation

A 33-year-old man was placed on probation after admitting to causing a drunken driving crash that killed a woman.

Trevor McDonald pleaded guilty on Thursday, Sept. 14, to a count of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.

In exchange for his plea, he was placed on probation for 10 years. However, he faces 10 years in prison if his probation is revoked.

He admitted to driving his vehicle while intoxicated on Sept. 16, 2018, and causing a crash that killed 54-year-old Alicia Ramirez, according to a judicial confession.

Lubbock police responded to a wreck involving three vehicles at about 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of Fourth Street and Texas Tech Parkway

Witnesses told police at the scene they saw the driver of a Toyota 4Runner, later identified as McDonald, traveling west on Fourth Street, run a red-light and strike a northbound Ford F-150 pickup truck carrying six people, including Ramirez. The crash threw items from the bed of the pickup truck, which struck a Chrysler 300, according to a search warrant.

Ramirez was taken to University Medical Center where she died.

Multiple witnesses told police they ran to McDonald’s vehicle to check on him. They said McDonald smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, the warrant states.

One witness described McDonald to police as “drunk as hell,” the warrant states.

One witness said McDonald repeatedly apologized. The witness said he was driving west on Fourth Street before the crash and McDonald, who he said was on his cellphone, veered into his lane, forcing him into the center turn lane, the warrant states.

McDonald took a field sobriety test, which led investigators to believe he was intoxicated, and consented to a blood draw, the warrant states.

He was arrested and booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center and was released the next day on bond set at $15,000, court records state.

Police investigators learned that McDonald was at a bar with friends in the 2300 block of Mac Davis Lane shortly before the crash.

A receipt from the bar showed McDonald bought four beers, an Irish Car Bomb mixed drink, two shots of tequila and five shots of peppermint schnapps. The bar’s records show he ordered additional drinks for his friends but the tab was paid by someone else, the warrant states.

Video from an outdoor security camera shows a vehicle matching McDonald’s SUV leaving the bar about 15 minutes before the crash, the warrant states.

A friend of McDonald’s who was at the bar with him told police that he told McDonald he shouldn’t have been driving, the warrant states.

Court records show Ramirez’s family filed a wrongful death suit against McDonald and the parties settled out of court in May with McDonald paying the family members more than $1 million, according to an agreed judgment.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man arrested in fatal North Lubbock wreck indicted