Drunk driver responsible for accident escapes unscathed.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A horrific car accident that occurred near Houston on Sunday night has left four Indian Americans dead and one hospitalized, with a drunken driver in police custody facing several felony charges.
Million Zeghergis is facing four counts of intoxicated manslaughter after running a red light and hitting a 2002 Honda Civic being driven by Devendraprasad Patel. Patel was driving four other individuals at the time of the accident: Ansuyaben Patel, Kokila Patel, Jayanthilal Bhatt, and Shanumati Bhatt, the former three of whom also perished in the crash, along with Devendraprasad.
Shanumati Bhatt, the wife of Jayanthilal Bhatt, was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where she is currently in stable condition. All of the victims in the Honda Civic were elderly, and were between the ages of 60 and 80 years old. Those who died as a result of the crash were reportedly dead at the scene, with police finding no sign of life on any of the four deceased.
Zeghergis (31), meanwhile, is currently in police custody, and emerged from the accident completely unscathed. He failed a sobriety test at the scene of the accident, which occurred at the 13200 block of Beechnut Street in southwest Harris County, Texas, at the intersection of Beechnut and Synott Road.
According to local ABC-13 News, he registered a .107 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level when he was behind the wheel of his 2009 Dodge minivan. Furthermore, his car had a “Champion Town Car” company logo on it, and was a cab driver for the company, reports Click2Houston.com; Zeghergis had just received his cab license last May.
He is currently being held on $400,000 bond, and is expected to present himself in front of a probably cause court on Tuesday afternoon. It is not yet clear how much jail time Zeghergis faces if he pleads, or is found, guilty of the charges against him.