A 32-year-old Houston woman was accused of killing a man on a first date by hitting him with a Porsche while driving at 100 mph while consuming almost four times the legal alcohol limit.
Around 2:30 a.m. on April 19, a gruesome video showed driver Christina Chambers slamming a blue Porsche 911 Carrera into Joe McMullin, 33, and then slamming into a pole from a height of 30 feet.
Chambers was driving so fast that he was unable to navigate the curve and hit the curb before crashing into McMullin, who had just left the Voodoo Donut Shop with his date, Briana Naiturino.
“We went to karaoke at AvantGarden. Taco’s truck was closed when we went outside, but he knew Voodoo was open. Iturino told KTRK.
“He asked if I wanted to take my car. I said, ‘Well, it’s not too far.
Iturrino said they were strolling down the sidewalk when they noticed a fast-moving sports car ramming towards them.
“I felt something touch my lower back. I don’t know if the car brushed against my lower back or if Joe stepped on me as he passed. Immediately I was like, ‘Where’s Joe?
She called 911 and said she was instructed by the dispatcher to perform CPR until paramedics arrived, but McMullin died at the scene.
“He was so sweet. He smiled throughout the date. He was funny and had a great sense of music. He didn’t deserve to go like that.” Iturino told KHOU.
Chambers and her two passengers were injured in the wreck. She was charged with drunken manslaughter.
Court records show Chambers’ blood alcohol content was nearly four times the legal drinking limit. Quoted by the Houston Chronicle.
“She had a lot of alcohol in her system,” said Kelly Marshall, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
She added that investigators at the crash site found traces of suspicious drugs in her purse, most likely Adderall and cocaine.
Chambers told investigators he had a beer at 9:30 p.m. on April 19, five hours before the crash, but hadn’t had a drink since.
One of the passengers told authorities Mr Chambers had not been drinking at the bar he was in before the crash, but police are looking into the matter and whether he was overserved. are doing.
On Wednesday, Chambers appeared in court for the first time on addiction-manslaughter charges. She had a sling draped over her left arm and her right leg and was placed inside her with her cast.
Chambers’ attorney, Marc Thiessen, told the court that his client, who suffered a broken leg and collarbone, was not guilty, citing poor road conditions as the cause of the accident.
“We will find all the evidence and give due consideration to whether this was a crime or should simply be a civil case,” Thiessen said in court, the Chronicle reported.
However, prosecutors countered that his suggestion that it should be a civil lawsuit was “insulting”.
“Families sit in the room and hear that this is a civil lawsuit and this is a money issue. This is not a money issue,” Marshall said. “It was reportedly a crime committed by the accused driving under the influence of alcohol and killing her loved one.”
Thiessen described Chambers as unemployed and said her husband was the sole provider.
She lives with her husband of six years, portfolio manager Xuan Si, in a $1.5 million house. daily mail report.
Judge Te’iva Bell ordered Chambers to bond $50,000 and barred her from driving unless she got a job.
McMullin’s parents, brother and sister-in-law attended the hearing hand in hand.
His grieving mother described her late son as a music-loving and loving uncle.
“As a mother of two adult sons, you want them to find happiness in life.” Lynn McMullin told chronicle She sat next to her husband, Chris, his second son, and his wife.
“He would have wanted us to be together and be brave,” she added.
McMullin said his son loved live music so much that he found time between his two jobs to go see the show, adding that they went to Coachella in California in 2012 together. .
“I wasn’t at Coachella, but we were there,” she told the newspaper.
McMullin’s sister-in-law, Anna McMullin, suggested that he probably would have been friends with Iturrino had the date gone awry.
“Most of his dates turned into friendships,” she said.
