Inset: Marissa Arlene Dominguez (El Paso County Detention Center). Background: The Mustang Dominguez was driving when she allegedly struck and killed a motorcyclist last month (KTSM).
A 20-year-old woman in Texas has been arrested for allegedly killing a motorcyclist when she struck him from behind while traveling more than 100 mph in a Ford Mustang after leaving a friend”s 21st birthday.
Marissa Arlene Dominguez was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of manslaughter in the death of 48-year-old Alejandro Rodriguez, records reviewed by Law&Crime show. According to an incident report from the El Paso Police Department, the Special Traffic Investigations Unit responded at 2:28 a.m. on Aug. 31 to Mile Marker 33 West on Interstate 10 regarding a collision between a motorcycle and an automobile. The motorcyclist, later identified as Rodriguez, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dominguez, who was driving the white 2024 Mustang that struck Rodriguez, remained at the scene.
The preliminary investigation revealed that “Rodriguez was traveling west on the interstate when [Dominguez] rear-ended him, causing him to be thrown from his motorcycle,” the report says. He was driving a 2024 Kawasaki Ninja.
Court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate KTSM provided additional information about what led to her arrest.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
The report says that after the crash, Dominguez told police that she had been out celebrating for her friend’s 21st birthday. She also admitted to consuming several alcoholic beverages despite being under the legal drinking age. However, Dominguez told the police that she was confident she could drive, saying that her father had been killed by a drunk driver and adding, “she would never wish that on someone else’s family.”
Police conducted an on-site breathe test and Dominguez reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.047 and 0.046. The legal BAC limit for a person over age 21 to drive is 0.08.
Data from the Mustang indicated that at the time of the collision, Dominguez was driving 118 mph and did not apply the brakes until after she made contact with Rodriguez, local ABC affiliate KVIA reported. After the impact, authorities said Rodriguez, who was wearing a helmet, was thrown several hundred feet before coming to rest on the interstate.
Dominguez also reportedly told police that she had been lying when she initially claimed that the crash had been caused by Rodriguez quickly merging into her lane, just ahead of her.
She reportedly said she was afraid to tell the truth about what happened, which is that she had been looking down at her cellphone to choose a song when she suddenly hit Rodriguez. She also allegedly confirmed that she had already seen the motorcyclist in front of her before looking down at the phone.
Dominguez was taken into custody on Sept. 11 and processed into the El Paso County Detention Center. She was released the same day after posting bond of $100,000. It was not immediately clear when she was scheduled to appear in court again.
