A honking match in the crawling traffic line at the Bridge of the Americas turned into an alleged keying spree on Aug. 16, when 56-year-old Lucina Martinez Chavez got out of her vehicle and, according to police, hit another driver's window repeatedly before scratching an 18-inch gash into the door with her keys. El Paso Police officers were dispatched to the border crossing at 3600 Paisano Drive shortly before 5:30 p.m. that day, responding to a 911 call from a woman who said a stranger was banging on her car door.
According to court documents obtained by KTSM 9 News, the caller said she needed to change lanes while approaching the X-ray machine because another vehicle had split lanes ahead of her. That maneuver put her car in proximity to the vehicle occupied by Martinez Chavez, which was being driven by Martinez Chavez's daughter. The daughter began honking, saying she was already moving forward in line, per the affidavit, and the caller's vehicle barely collided with the vehicle Martinez Chavez was riding in, according to court documents.
Martinez Chavez then got out of the vehicle and approached the caller's driver-side door, police say. The caller refused to talk to her, and video recording captured on the caller's phone showed Martinez Chavez hitting the driver-side window multiple times and attempting to open the door, according to the affidavit described in the station's report.
Keys, a Virgin Mary Charm, and an 18-Inch Scratch
Martinez Chavez then retrieved a set of keys from her own vehicle, walked back over, and pulled on the caller's door handle before keying the driver-side door panel, police allege. Responding officers observed deep scratches roughly 18 inches long on the caller's car, and the caller estimated the damage at $1,500. Martinez Chavez's mother reportedly handed the keys used in the alleged scratching over to the officer at the scene; per the same account, the keychain included multiple charms, among them an oval brown Virgin Mary, two silver keys, a dark grey bracelet and a round silver Virgin Mary pendant.
For her part, Martinez Chavez told police she exited her vehicle to talk to the caller because multiple vehicles were cutting them off in their lane, and said the caller was not listening to her, according to court documents. She said she knocked on the caller's window after approaching the vehicle. Martinez Chavez was charged with criminal mischief and was released Thursday on a personal recognizance bond.
Why Tempers Flare at the Border's Only Free Bridge
The Bridge of the Americas, known locally as Puente Libre, is the only toll-free international bridge for passenger vehicles connecting El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, according to the U.S. National Park Service. That free-crossing status draws heavy daily commuter traffic into a bottleneck of 14 northbound personal vehicle inspection lanes that operate around the clock, funneling drivers into single file as they approach U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing, per the City of El Paso. Regional data from PDN Uno shows the Paso del Norte region sees an average of 35,194 passenger vehicles cross daily, adding up to nearly 12.8 million personal vehicle crossings a year between the two cities.
The port of entry itself is owned by the International Boundary and Water Commission and staffed by federal Customs and Border Protection officers, but state criminal offenses occurring on the property, like the alleged criminal mischief here, fall under the jurisdiction of El Paso Police. In February, the department issued public safety guidance warning that road rage can quickly escalate traffic stress into criminal conduct, urging drivers stuck in line disputes to avoid confronting one another and to call 911 if they feel threatened.
A Pattern of Flare-Ups on El Paso Roads
Under Texas Penal Code Section 28.03, intentionally damaging someone's property causing between $750 and $2,500 in loss is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in county jail and fines as high as $4,000, according to the Law Offices of Bridget Eyler. The charge against Martinez Chavez falls squarely in that range given the $1,500 damage estimate.
Road rage incidents have surfaced repeatedly in the region this year. In April, El Paso County Sheriff's deputies arrested two women after a roadside custody exchange in Sparks escalated into intentional collisions, a case Hoodline covered in a road-rage rumble that jailed two. In May, an El Paso County jury acquitted a man in an Upper Valley road rage homicide tied to a 2023 dispute, and Texas Department of Transportation figures cited by Abrar & Vergara Law show El Paso logged 18,344 motor vehicle accidents in 2024, with aggressive driving and improper merging among the top contributing factors. The Bridge of the Americas itself is currently the subject of a $500 million federal modernization project that entered its design-build phase in July, according to the U.S. General Services Administration, with plans aimed at eliminating commercial truck traffic to ease bottlenecks at the crossing.
