Police chief of Needville Independent School District killed in crash

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

(1/20/07 - WHARTON, TX) -- A Wharton construction worker with four previous drunken driving convictions was charged with felony murder Saturday after he fled the scene of a crash in which the police chief of the Needville Independent School District died, authorities said.

Guillarmo Paniagua, 29, was driving his pickup truck east on Farm-to-Market Road 1301 late Friday when he veered into the westbound lane and collided with a police cruiser driven by Ernie V. Mendoza, the police chief of the Needville ISD, according to Senior Trooper Gary Pflughaupt, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Pflughaupt said Mendoza, 54, died at the scene. Paniagua, meanwhile, fled the crash on foot but was soon apprehended. After being treated for cuts and bruises, he was taken to the Wharton County Detention Center and charged with felony murder due to intoxication and failure to stop and render aid.

Pflughaupt did not know if Paniagua had an attorney yet. A blood test to determine Paniagua's blood-alcohol level was pending, Pflughaupt said. Mendoza was wearing a seat belt but Paniagua was not, Pflughaupt added.

Authorities were still at the crash scene to determine the speed at which the vehicles were traveling. It was raining when the crash happened on the road, which has a 60 mph speed limit.

Mendoza lived in Wharton and had been with the school district, about 30 miles southwest on Houston, for at least a decade, Pflughaupt said. He added that Mendoza was married and had four children who attended middle and high school.

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