SAN ANTONIO, Texas – People who live in the area where a woman and her five-year-old son were hit by a car and killed Wednesday night say they want something to be done about reckless drivers in the area.
Vanessa Ramos, 39, and her son, Solumen Lopez, 5, were hit by an out-of-control car as they walked along Stone Oak Parkway, west of Highway 281.
Police say Ramos was pushing her son in a stroller at the time.
They have arrested the driver of the car, Marlon Daniels, 56, on two counts of intoxication manslaughter.
People who live nearby heard the crash after 8 p.m. and headed to the crash scene to see what they could do to help.
“I ran out here (and) saw that people were already talking to the driver,” said one man, who did not want to reveal his identity.
The neighbor says he noticed a stop sign that had been knocked over a bit farther down the road and then saw an even more disturbing sight.
“That’s when I saw the mom and her baby,” he said. “The people that were talking to the driver, they didn’t know. So that means the driver didn’t know that he hit the mom and baby.”
Ramos and her son both died at the scene.
Spray-painted markings were still visible on the ground Thursday morning, showing the path the car took as it hit them and continued along the sidewalk.
The markings indicate that the mother and child were in a crosswalk in front of a school when they were hit.
Green paint shows the car then continued along the sidewalk, missing a fire hydrant and several trees, before stopping in the middle of the street.
The unnamed neighbor and other people passing by told KSAT 12 News they were saddened by the deaths but not surprised by the crash.
They say that the stretch of Stone Oak Parkway is a regular speed zone.
“They always go fast,” the neighbor said. “We hear the motors, like, every day coming down Stone Oak Parkway. So hopefully, after all this, we’ll start getting more patrols.”
The Texas Department of Transportation oversees that road.
Figures from that department show there have been eight other crashes since January 2023 involving people driving while intoxicated.
There also were 24 other crashes related to speeding drivers during that same period.
District 9 Councilman John Courage addressed the incident at a Thursday council meeting.
In an emailed statement, Courage said, “Drunk driving is a choice, and regardless of how much traffic safety infrastructure the City of San Antonio invests in this issue, without the commitment of our community to not get behind the wheel while intoxicated, everyone will continue to be at risk.”