The night before police say Orlando Rodriguez caused the crashed that killed Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher Sandra Coronado, his friends warned him against going out.
“Dt Dt Dt Dt?” Rodriguez posted on his now-deleted Facebook page Saturday night, an apparent reference to going out to downtown McAllen. In the comments, friends told him he would get arrested if he did. He responded that he could control himself.
Police say Rodriguez later admitted to drinking beer and liquor, as well as using cocaine and marijuana before he drove through a stop sign and crossed the median on Highway 281, crashing head-on into Coronado’s vehicle.
“This poor soul was going to work, you know?” said Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez. “It shouldn’t have happened.”
According to documents obtained by CBS 4, Rodriguez was able to drink on 17th Street in McAllen because he presented a fake ID.
And this wasn’t the first time Rodriguez was arrested for drunk driving. He was charged with DWI in July of 2017 and put on probation.
In January of this year, prosecutors filed a motion to revoke his probation, citing six different violations of the conditions of his community supervision.
The prosecutors later asked a judge to dismiss their motion, and Rodriguez’s probation was extended by six months. Rodriguez was released from community supervision on October 30th.
“Our condolences go out to the family,” Ricardo Rodriguez said, “and we’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that there’s justice.”
This story has been edited to clarify that Rodriguez’s probation was extended.
