Driver of fatal crash in U.S. border city charged with manslaughter

HOUSTON, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The man who drove an SUV into a crowd at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter in Brownsville, a border city in the U.S. state of Texas, has been charged with manslaughter, Brownsville police chief Felix Sauceda said at a news conference on Monday.

Death toll increased to eight after an injured person died at hospital later on Sunday. More than 10 others were injured during the crash.

The police chief said the 34-year-old driver, identified as George Alvarez, was charged with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Police said they were still investigating the crash, not ruling out the possibility of an intentional act.

The vehicle Alvarez was driving ran a red light, lost control, flipped on its side and hit 18 people on Sunday morning, said Sauceda. The driver was detained by bystanders when he tried to flee the scene.

The crash came days before the expiration of the so-called Title 42 border policy on Thursday. Since 2020, the policy allows U.S. border officials to swiftly expel migrants and asylum-seekers to curb the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the lifting of Title 42 approaches, Brownsville, like a number of other cities along the U.S. southern border, has been struggling with a surge in migrants attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico.

The policy has turned migrants back to Mexico more than 2.5 million times since it went into effect in March 2020, according to the latest federal data.