'It was terrible,' Victim recalls moment alleged drunk driver slammed into good Samaritans
Two people trying to help a disabled driver are now in critical condition after a pickup truck struck them on Barker Cypress Road in northwest Harris County.
The crash happened along the 5100 block of Barker Cypress around 12:40 a.m. Monday. Authorities say three different vehicles had stopped to help a grey Nissan Altima that had been in a wreck, but the driver of that car was nowhere to be found.
During that time, authorities say the driver of a blue Toyota pick up slammed into the good Samaritans and the stopped cars.
Authorities have identified that driver as 26-year-old Zachary Castro.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted that Castro was under the influence of alcohol. He has been charged with three counts of intoxication assault.
A third person has broken bones.
Cameron Neff was one of the victims in the incident who was not injured. He told ABC13 all they wanted was to help.
"We were good people wanting to help," Neff said. "My advice to anybody in a similar situation is, nothing good ever happens after midnight."
Neff says all he heard was a scream and a boom, and the next thing he saw was the car coming toward him and his van.
One of the injured victims is a woman who ended up on the hood of that Tundra as it swerved into a ditch and landed upside down.
"I hope to God, I pray to God they make it. It was horrible," Neff said.
Deputies say Castro admitted to them he had been drinking earlier in the evening.
"He just tried to pass the vehicles stopped on the roadway. The vehicles were stopped with hazard lights on, there is no reason why they should not have been seen," Sgt. Dashana Cheek-McNeal with the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.
Charges could be upgraded to intoxication manslaughter depending on what happens to the victims.
