A 20-year-old Fabens man is facing a driving while intoxicated charge after police say his pickup truck struck two pedestrians walking home from a church festival in Clint late Saturday night. Both victims, a 60-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man from neighboring San Elizario, suffered only minor injuries in the crash, which happened around 11:23 p.m. at the intersection of Church and Garcia streets as they were crossing after leaving the San Lorenzo Church bazaar.
According to KFOX14/CBS4, the driver, identified as Emmanuel Meza Rabelo, was allegedly headed the wrong way down a one-way street in a black GMC Sierra when he failed to see the two pedestrians and struck them. A citizen called in to report that a pedestrian had been hit and might be injured, per the release from the El Paso County Constable's Office Precinct 6, whose deputy happened to be on routine patrol nearby when the crash occurred.
Responders from the Clint Fire Department and Life Ambulance treated both victims at the scene. The 60-year-old woman requested transport to a local hospital for further treatment, while both pedestrians were ultimately described as having sustained only minor injuries.
Sobriety Test and Arrest
When the constable's deputy approached Meza Rabelo, he reportedly showed signs of intoxication and went on to fail a field sobriety test, the station's report states. He then provided a voluntary breath sample that came back above Texas' legal limit of .08 blood alcohol concentration. The El Paso County Constable's Office subsequently obtained an arrest warrant charging him with driving while intoxicated.
Meza Rabelo was transported to the Peter J. Herrera Station before being booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility, where his bond was set at $10,000, per the same account. The precise breath alcohol concentration recorded has not been publicly disclosed, and it remains an open question whether the result will trigger an enhanced charge.
What the Charge Could Mean Legally
Because Meza Rabelo is 20 years old and his breath sample exceeded the 0.08% threshold, he faces adult criminal charges rather than the administrative penalties Texas typically applies to underage drivers caught with any detectable alcohol, according to Deandra Grant Law. Under Texas Penal Code § 49.04, a first-offense DWI conviction at or above that BAC level is a Class B misdemeanor, carrying a statutory penalty ranging from 72 hours to 180 days in jail, a fine of up to $2,000, and a license suspension of 90 days to a year, per the Law Office of Kevin Bennett.
Should chemical testing ultimately confirm a BAC of 0.15% or higher, the charge could be elevated to a Class A misdemeanor, which doubles the maximum fine to $4,000 and raises potential jail time to up to a year, according to The Martinez Law Firm. Despite striking two pedestrians, Meza Rabelo was booked on misdemeanor DWI rather than a felony charge because Texas law reserves the third-degree felony of Intoxication Assault, punishable by two to 10 years in prison, for cases involving serious bodily injury, per Lawyer.com. It remains unclear whether the El Paso County Attorney's Office will file formal charges, and the exact medical recovery status of both pedestrians has not been detailed.
A Century-Old Festival Meets a Persistent Local Problem
The crash struck close to home for the Mission Valley community: Clint, where the incident happened, and San Elizario, where both victims live, sit roughly three miles apart along Texas State Highway 20. The San Lorenzo Church bazaar the victims had just left is a tradition dating back to 1913, when parishioners organized the event to raise money for building the church, as Hoodline detailed in its coverage of this year's Fiesta de San Lorenzo. Large festivals at the church typically involve rolling road closures managed by San Elizario Fire Rescue and county deputies specifically to protect pedestrians walking to and from the grounds.
The crash also lands amid stark regional data on drunk driving's outsized toll. El Paso Police Department traffic safety figures released in July showed that while alcohol-related crashes account for less than 1% of total collisions region-wide, they represent roughly 35% of all traffic fatalities, according to data cited by KTSM 9 News. Texas Department of Transportation crash records separately show El Paso County recorded 26 alcohol-related driving fatalities in 2024, three of which involved drivers or victims under 21.
