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Elijah Rangel: Family of Texas man, 26, killed by drunk driver, launches heartbreaking campaign

Elijah Rangel was driving back to his friends’ place at around 5.30 am on February 4 when the suspect identified as Erik Alonso Salinas crashed into him
UPDATED FEB 13, 2023
Elijah Rangel was driving back to his friends’ place at around 5:30 am on February 04 when the suspect identified as Erik Alonso Salinas crashed into him (GofundMe)
Elijah Rangel was driving back to his friends’ place at around 5:30 am on February 04 when the suspect identified as Erik Alonso Salinas crashed into him (GofundMe)

HOUSTON, TEXAS: A grief-stricken family is raising their protest against drinking and driving after losing their loved one, who was killed when an alleged drunk driver slammed into him. Elijah Rangel, 26, was driving back to his friends’ place at around 5.30 am on February 4 when the suspect identified as Erik Alonso Salinas crashed into him on the 14900 block of Beaumont Highway, Harris County Sheriff's Office reported.

Deputies said Salinas was driving a grey GMC Sierra when he failed to yield the right of way while making a left turn and collided with Rangel’s car. The driver managed to drive off the roadway but got arrested after his vehicle rolled into a ditch. The investigators claimed that he exhibited signs of intoxication. Salinas was rushed to the local hospital, where he is still under observation. However, he has not been charged yet.

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'It's never okay'

The untimely death of Rangel has left his family devastated. His sisters Mayra Urban and Anahi Rangel revealed that their mother drove passed the accident on her way to work, not knowing her son was involved in the crash. "Their family can visit him at the hospital anytime and my mom literally has to go to a cemetery to visit him," Urban told ABC 13. She revealed that Rangel was accepted into the Harris County Sheriff's Office Explorer Program but he left it as he wanted to pursue his passion for art and was an up-and-coming local tattoo artist.

"The only thing we have left is seeing people's tattoos," Urban added with Anahi saying "He had just perfected his craft. He was taken away from us." In an effort to get their point through, the two sisters are trying to encourage people to stop and consider their actions before driving under influence. "It's never okay, there are so many options like Uber, Lyft, everything like that, for you to get home safely," Urban said. "You don't need to have a drink or two and then get behind the wheel and kill someone else."

Harris County has the highest drunk driving fatalities in Texas

The Texas Department of Transportation reports that Texas has continuously ranked first in the nation for accidents and deaths. Harris County had the greatest total in Texas, with 243 fatalities from drunk driving, as per ABC 13. In a similar accident, a 24-year-old man was arrested on charges of intoxication manslaughter after one person was killed in a single-vehicle crash. Jacob Alan Tucker was driving southbound on Goldsmith Street in a Chevrolet truck with two passengers, Michael Jeffrey Pauline and Michael Thomas Ferry, when he failed to follow the curve of the road and crashed into a tree about 44 feet away. Tucker and Ferry were taken to nearby hospitals with life-threatening injuries, but Pauline was pronounced dead at the scene. The official report noted that Tucker had a blood alcohol result of 0.172%.

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