A 27-year-old man who police identified as the driver in a drunken crash that left two people dead three years ago was arrested Friday after being indicted by a Lubbock County grand jury.
Princeton Ugwu was booked Friday into the Lubbock County Detention Center on state-jail felony counts of criminally negligent homicide.
He was also arrested on felony counts of possession of a controlled substance, tampering with evidence and possession of a prohibited substance in a correctional facility.
His arrest comes three days after a Lubbock County Grand jury returned an indictment charging him with two counts of criminally negligent homicide in connection with the Dec. 9, 2023 crash that killed 23-year-old Rodrigo Torres and 41-year-old Angela Bray.
He
is accused of negligently causing the fatal crash by failing to keep a proper lookout and driving while intoxicated.
State jail felonies carry a punishment of between six months to two years in a state jail.
Investigating a deadly crash in central Lubbock
The charge stems from a Lubbock police crash investigation that began about 7:20 p.m. that night after officers responding to a two-vehicle crash involving a 2017 Toyota Yaris and a 2011 Mercedes Benz E-Class in the 5600 block of South Avenue Q.
Investigators would determine that Ugwu, who was identified as the driver of the Mercedes, was traveling northbound on South Avenue Q when he collided into the westbound Yaris, driven by Bray, near the 58th Street intersection.
The Yaris struck two parked vehicles before coming to rest. Meanwhile, the Mercedes struck another parked vehicle.
Responding officers found Bray and Torres in a passenger car. The two were pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators would later learn that Bray was intoxicated while driving the Yaris and did not come to a complete stop before entering the intersection before the crash, according to a police report.
However, investigators believe that Ugwu shared part of the contributing factors in this crash, the report states.
A responding officer spoke with Ugwu, who suffered serious injury, according to a police news release.
Ugwu reportedly told the officer he was driving home from a friend's house that night but could not tell the officer where his friend lived.
The officer, who said he could smell a moderate odor of alcohol on Ugwu's breath, said the driver couldn't tell him where the Yaris came from, but said he believed it was leaving the driveway of a home in the 5600 block of Villa Drive.
Ugwu, who was described as indifferent and carefree, reportedly didn't know what road he was traveling or how he planned to get home from where he was, the report states.
Ugwu reportedly admitted to the officer that he was driving about 30 mph faster than the road's 45 mph speed limit.
However, Ugwu, who appeared to be unsteady as he swayed and staggered during the encounter, refused a field sobriety test, court records show.
Court records show officers obtained a blood sample from Ugwu at the University Medical Center Emergency room. However, the results of a blood-alcohol test, have not been disclosed.
Jail records show Ugwu remains held at the jail. His bond is set at $30,000 for the criminally negligent homicide charge.
Gabriel Monte is the criminal justice reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas. Have a news tip for him? Email him at gmonte@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Driver arrested after indictment for deadly 2023 Lubbock crash
