Lakedra Franklin & Idania Sagastisado Drunk driving suspected in 2 crashes

[Sister Iroz]

Three people, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed in a pair of crashes caused by drunken drivers early Saturday, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said.

The two drivers, Idania Sagastisado and Lakedra Denise Franklin, were charged with intoxication manslaughter in connection with the crashes, which happened between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. about 15 miles apart in northwest Houston, sheriff’s Lt. John Legg said.

Sagastisado, 26, was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of Texas 249 near Louetta when her vehicle hit the car carrying the girl and her father, Legg said. The man tried to swerve, he said, but the collision was almost head-on.

 The girl was taken to a hospital, where she died, Legg said. Her father, whose identity has not been released, died at the scene of the crash.

Sagastisado, who pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in 2005, was hospitalized in serious but stable condition, Legg said.

Franklin, 25, struck a vehicle head-on while driving on Kuykendahl near Dominion Park Drive. The crash killed the lone occupant of the other vehicle, who was identified only as a woman in her mid-20s.

Franklin, who was not seriously injured, was being held in the Harris County Jail in lieu of $30,000 bail.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/6274455.html

[Sister Iroz]

HOUSTON -- In an instant, the lives of Rhina Ventura’s her 4-year-old daughter Gabriela and husband Jony were taken. Authorities say, their deaths are the result of an accident caused by a suspected drunk driver.

The driver, Idania Sagastisado, survived the crash.

She was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.

"I pray for justice that she will be locked up for life to pay for the pain she has caused my family,” said Ventura.

Sagastisado pleaded guilty in 2005 to driving while intoxicated. She was released at that time on a $1,000 bond.

Harris County Sheriff's Investigators say that not only was the suspect allegedly intoxicated at the time of the accident, but she was going in the wrong direction on Highway 249 when she hit Ventura's sedan head-on.

Ventura was on his way to work at Snowflake Donuts in Tomball. It was a shift he worked daily and a job that allowed him to bring his daughter to work.

"Gabby liked to go to work with her dad because she liked to help make donuts just like him," said Ventura.

Both father and daughter will be laid to rest in El Salvador. Meanwhile, Ventura holds on tightly to her only remaining child, 3-year-old Daniel.

“I tell him they are in the park because he doesn't understand that he'll never see them again,” said Ventura.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stori....3f24dd7f.html