Investigators said the driver, identified as Daniel Alexander Rodriguez-Olivares, was going so fast that he drove over a culvert and cleared an entire bayou.
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The crash happened at about 3 a.m. Thursday in the 5400 block of Killough Drive near West Montgomery Road.
Harris County sheriff's deputies said Rodriguez-Olivares was speeding in his 2016 BMW 340i westbound on Killough when he ramped a culvert, launched into the air, cleared the entire bayou, and kept driving. Officials estimated the bayou is about 50 feet wide.
When the car landed, the driver lost control, slammed into a tree, and flipped over in the front yard of a home, HCSO said. The female passenger in the BMW was killed.
Surveillance video shows the car's headlights still going moments before it crashed into the front yard several feet down the road, leaving a path of damage along the way at nearby businesses.
Rodriguez-Olivares survived and somehow broke a window of the home and entered, startling the two adults who were inside, investigators said.
The couple told ABC13 that Rodriguez-Olivares said he was covered in blood and calling out for help and forgiveness from his mother.
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They called 911, and when deputies showed up, they found him passed out on a bed.
They said it took several minutes for law enforcement to enter the home, as they had to prepare for the possibility of somebody being armed inside.
"I imagine it's very scary -- 3 o'clock in the morning, you're hearing what sounds like a horrific car crash and then broken glass. Very traumatic for them," Sgt. B. Bondurant said. "There's no reason why a sober and prudent driver wouldn't have stopped after going airborne. This individual does not stop, which leads us to believe that there is intoxication involved."
HCSO said Rodriguez-Olivares was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Deputies said he showed signs of intoxication, and intoxication manslaughter charges were accepted against him.