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Inset: Alexis Osmani Gonzalez-Companioni (Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The I-20 crash scene on Saturday in Kaufman County, Texas, after Alexis Osmani Gonzalez-Companioni allegedly fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into traffic (WFAA/YouTube).
A trucker in Texas allegedly fell asleep at the wheel of his 18-wheeler in the middle of the day Saturday while driving on Interstate 20, causing a deadly crash and pileup that included two other semis and three cars and claimed the lives of five people, officials say.
The driver, Alexis Osmani Gonzalez‑Companioni, 27, is facing charges of manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for his alleged actions, according to the Texas Department of Safety. He is currently being held on a $1.5 million bond.
“He stated that he had fallen asleep,” Texas DPS Sgt. Kyle Bradford told Law&Crime on Monday. “They are obviously doing more research, but that is what he stated.”
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Gonzalez‑Companion was allegedly driving west on I-20 in Kaufman County when he said he began snoozing at the wheel, according to DPS and fire officials. Traffic was stopped near the Hiram Road bridge when he allegedly sped into the victims.
“It was a big boom,” resident Shelly Timms, who witnessed the 2:40 p.m. crash, told local CBS affiliate KTVT. “Big, big boom,” she said.
Corinne Mulcahy, another local resident who lives nearby, said she saw Gonzalez-Companioni allegedly slam into a Ford F-150 that cops say was carrying five people and was stalled in traffic. Four of the individuals were pronounced dead at the scene; the fifth was hospitalized in critical condition; another person died in the pileup.
“I’ll tell you, man, I don’t know how many miles an hour he was going when he was driving, but he hit that car, and I knew he killed everybody in that truck,” Mulcahy told KTVT.
After allegedly crashing into the F-150, cops say Gonzalez-Companioni’s truck careened into two other 18-wheelers, causing one of them to jackknife and strike four other passenger vehicles, per Bradford.
Buddha Wyrick, a property manager at a nearby RV resort, said other drivers on the road were shaken up and came to the business to call police and settle their nerves. Bradford told Law&Crime that multiple victims were treated at the scene for injuries, but a number is not known yet for how many exactly.
“They were upset and traumatized,” Wyrick said of the motorists. “There was a few, like, that saw it in front of them. They were like, ‘We’re the fourth car back,’ or, ‘the second car back.’ And they were telling me stories.”
Speaking to media after the crash, officials with the Terrell Volunteer Fire Department described the scene as “horrific” and declared it a “mass casualty” event. Emergency crews reportedly shut down traffic in both directions as first responders treated people who were injured. A Jeep Compass, Ford Mustang and Honda passenger vehicle were said to have also been involved. A person in the Compass was the fifth victim.
“All you could see was one 18-wheeler, half of the back end was missing,” resident Leak Akins told local NBC affiliate KXAS. “And then another 18-wheeler, the cab was completely gone.”
Bradford said Texas DPS was waiting to release the identities of the deceased until after their next of kin is notified. Updates are expected to come on Monday afternoon.
