Deputies from the El Paso County Sheriff’s office arrested a 25-year-old Clint, TX man early yesterday. The Clint man, Juan Marin Castillo, Jr., had crashed his gray 1999 Mazda pickup head-on into a parked police vehicle around 1 a.m. Police had shut down a portion of eastbound I-10 between Clint and Horizon City to investigate the scene of a fatal rollover wreck that happened about 9:30 p.m. on the previous day. The dark green pickup truck involved in the rollover wreck may have been racing a small black car prior to the rollover.
Socorro Police spokesman David Garcia said that the two men involved in the rollover wreck might have just come from watching the Cowboys game with friends. One of the men had mentioned he had to be home early, so the owner of the truck let one of the men borrow it to drive the other home. Michael Portillo, 27, was fatally injured when the truck rolled over several times and ejected him from the cab. The rollover wreck critically injured Tommy Cruz, Jr. Police say they remain unsure of which of the men was driving at the time of the wreck. If the survivor of the rollover wreck is found to have been driving the truck, he could face charges.
The deputies investigating Juan Marin Castillo Jr.’s inauspicious crash into the police car at the site of the Socorro crash investigation noticed a “strong odor of alcohol” and multiple beer cans laying around the wrecked Mazda pickup truck. They arrested the Clint man on suspicion of DUI and took him into custody at the County Jail on a $1,000 bond.