5 killed in crashes in 24 hours, at least 3 were alcohol-related

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Sean Teare, Chief of Vehicular Crimes with Harris Co District Attorney's Office, said Harris County has had a 'very tragic' and deadly 24 hours on the road.

Since the stay-at-home orders were lifted on Friday, May 1, Teare said there has been a drastic increase of traffic on the roadways.

Teare told ABC13 between Sunday and Monday, five people were killed in traffic crashes, and at least three of those crashes were related to alcohol or drugs.

"The biggest concern is that when the bar is open again, when we have full capacity at all the locations that serve alcohol, we're going to have people being irresponsible. We're going to have people trying to make up for lost time, so to speak," Teare said. "We are going to see a spike in the deaths on the roads. That's that's the concern, professionally, that I have."

Teare also said in April there were no arrests for intoxication manslaughter and the number of DWI related incidents were less than half when compared to April 2019.

"I've been doing this quite a long time and I haven't seen a month like that," Teare said. "We've seen a drastic drop. A concern now is that we're going to see a drastic spike."

Officials with the Houston Police Department and Harris County District Attorney's Office confirm in all three of the alcohol-related fatal crashes, the suspected drivers have been arrested and are facing charges.

RELATED: 1 dead after multiple vehicles involved in crash near Highway 288