The media was recently informing the citizens of Texas in the Carrollton area that a suspected drunk driver had slammed into two police cruisers. The whole event was captured on a dash cam. It appears that 29-year-old Jose Fabian-Gonzalez was behind the wheel of his truck when he lost control, hitting one patrol car and then careening into another one.
His truck ended up facing backwards on the highway, and as it came to rest, a tire came loose and rolled away from the scene. The first patrol car hit was totalled. On being arrested, his field sobriety test indicated his BAC was .15, above the legal limit of .08. But for the silent dash cam witness to the event, the whole debacle could have deteriorated into a finger-pointing contest of who did what when determining how the event happened.
While some drivers question the reason for having a dash cam, an incident such as this one clearly demonstrates that you cannot argue with what has been recorded of a crash or other event. And when the dash cam happens to be mounted in a police cruiser, it is even harder to mount a reasonable defense against a drunk driving charge.
About The Author
Kenneth "Tray" Gober III, J.D., is the Managing Partner of Lee, Gober & Reyna, PLLC in Austin, Texas. A 2005 magna cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University and a cum laude graduate of Baylor Law School, Tray is admitted to the State Bars of Texas (Bar No. 24061986), Colorado, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. He is also admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas and U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Texas.
He represents personal injury clients across Texas in car accidents, truck accidents, autonomous vehicle claims, wrongful death, drunk driving collisions, premises liability, and product liability matters. He is one of Texas's most frequently quoted legal voices on the law surrounding autonomous vehicles and AI-driven transportation. Tray also served as an adjunct professor of Paralegal Studies at the University of Texas School of Law.