NEW CANEY- A witness said Juan Candido Santoyo was northbound on Highway 59, passing at a high rate of speed around 1 a.m. on Saturday when he lost control of his vehicle and it began to roll leaving the east side of the highway, a little south of FM 1485.
Santoyo’s Chevy Tahoe rolled across the feeder road and a construction area, ejecting his female passenger, before landing in a deep ditch. The female passenger remained where she landed. The unidentified adult female was injured, though not critically. She was taken to an area hospital by ground ambulance.
The witness said he was driving 75 miles per hour and Santoyo passed him “like he was sitting still.”
Santoyo, who was not injured, climbed out of the SUV, up the embankment, and tried to flee on foot but was located by law enforcement and arrested.
Santoyo, a 24-year-old Shepherd resident, was charged with intoxication assault with a motor vehicle / serious bodily injury; escape while arrested, confined; motion to revoke (probation); and the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on him.
The incident was not Santoyo’s first brush with the law or with a DWI. Public Data shows he was charged with DWI in July of 2005, before he even turned 21. During the same incident, Santoyo was charged with “failure to ID / giving false fictitious information.” In October of that year, he was sentenced to 180 days probation and a $500 fine for the DWI. The second charge was dismissed.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, and Precinct 4 Constable Rowdy Hayden responded to the scene, along with the New Caney Fire Department.
