Houston authorities released details about a deadly crash that killed a mother of four who was standing in her driveway when she was struck by a driver chasing down his girlfriend.
According to local news outlets, 43-year-old Xochitl Santos was standing in her driveway with her children on Dec. 23 when two cars came speeding down the street.
Surveillance video obtained by KTRK shows the first car, a gold Toyota sedan, speeding by, followed by a Chevy Cobalt.
The footage shows the Cobalt lose control, hit Santos as she’s standing in her driveway and pin her to her own car.
Police told KRIV that one of Santos’s legs was severed in the incident, and another leg was nearly taken off. Authorities say a 12-year-old girl was also in Santos’s car at the time of the collision.
Family members rushed to the mother’s aid, and when first responders arrived, they had to apply a tourniquet to stymie the bleeding as best as possible before rushing her to the hospital.
Santos underwent an emergency surgery at the hospital, but died.
Witnesses told investigators that a man and a woman had gotten into a heated argument at a nearby apartment complex. When the woman drove off in a gold Toyota, the man followed behind her in his Jeep Cobalt SUV.
When the cars turned onto the street where Santos lived, the SUV hit Santos.
“Obviously [the driver] was driving at a high-rate of speed down a residential street, so he could be charged with manslaughter, negligent homicide or something like that depending on what the DA comes up with, even if he’s not intoxicated,” Lieutenant Larry Crowson told KPRC.
Police detained a 34-year-old driver who was showing signs of intoxication, but later released him.
Santos’s death was ruled accidental, according to Harris County records cited by People magazine. There’s no word on whether the driver will face charges, but police said the investigation is ongoing.
Neighbors say they were infuriated by the recklessness that claimed Santos’s life.
“I’m so mad that people engage in reckless stupidity,” Ramiah Wallace said. “Now someone lost their life, and children lost their mother over something that probably didn’t even matter.”