Pharr man charged with manslaughter after allegedly disregarding red light

Javier Garza

A 70-year-old Pharr man was arrested Friday after allegedly running a red light, crashing into a vehicle and causing the death of that driver’s mother, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Javier Garza was charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.

Video surveillance obtained from two opposite locations relieved that on Feb. 2, Maria Del Rosario Navarro was traveling with her mother to their home in Hidalgo when she turned eastbound on Dicker Road from South 23rd Street on a protected green arrow, according to the affidavit.

Meanwhile, Garza was traveling northbound on 23rd Street heading toward the same intersection, which was displaying red to northbound traffic.

Garza disregarded the red light and crashed into Navarro’s vehicle which caused them to roll over twice.

According to the affidavit, Navarro suffered from serious bodily injury, including several broken bones, while her mother, Dolores Acevedo, died at the scene.

A reconstruction investigator obtained a search warrant for Garza’s vehicle which revealed that the vehicle was traveling 60 MPH while in a 55 MPH zone and didn’t use his brakes.

“(Garza’s) failure to stop, slow down or maneuver his vehicle to avoid the collision showed total disregard for the safety of others when the traffic light had been red for approximately 20 seconds prior to entering the intersection and was reckless in his behavior to operate a vehicle directly in to a busy intersection,” the affidavit states.

The documents goes on to further say that the investigation revealed that Garza had traveled through that same intersection several times earlier this year and the weather conditions during the crash were recorded as daylight, clear and dry.

Garza was jailed on $20,000 in bonds and released that same day, according to jail records.

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