Palacios accepted a deal for the intoxication manslaughter of San Patricio Co. dispatcher Betsy Mandujano, Mathew Banda, and intoxication assault of Janell Donaho.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Roxanne Palacios, the woman who accused of killing two people and hurting another in 2022 while driving the wrong way on the Harbor Bridge while under the influence of alcohol, accepted a plea deal Friday.
Palacios accepted a deal for the intoxication manslaughter of San Patricio Co. dispatcher Betsy Mandujano, Sinton native, US Navy veteran and father Mathew Banda, and the intoxication assault with a vehicle causing significant bodily injury of Janell Donaho.
She was sentenced to seven years for each crime, to be served concurrently. She also will receive credit for the approximately two years she already has served awaiting trial.
Banda, Mandujano, Donaho, and Palacios all were represented in the courtroom Friday.
Nueces County District Attorney Jimmy Granberry said that a deciding factor in the deal was the victims’ families’ desire to move forward with a civil case Donaho, Banda’s family, and Mandujano’s family have filed against Flatiron/Dragados LLC., The Railroad Brewery Co. and Palacios.
“As long as they’ve got all of the family members on board and that’s what justice looks like to those family members, then we will acquiesce to what they’re asking for, if it’s within reason,” he said. “And, so, in this case, the justice looks like seven years concurrent on each case, and all of the family members are asking this office to acquiesce and allow them to proceed on the civil cases as they want to do, then we’re not gonna stand in the way.”
The mother of Banda’s child, who lives in Portland, spoke about how his death has affected their daughter, and even her, saying crossing the Harbor Bridge now makes her anxious.
According to the lawsuit, originally filed by Donaho, Flatiron/Dragados, LLC. sponsored an event to celebrate the agreement between the company and TxDOT to continue work on the new Harbor Bridge Project after work had temporarily been stopped earlier in the year. The event was held Nov. 2, 2022, at the Railroad Seafood & Brewing Co., shortly before the crash.
Corpus Christi Police Department detectives’ investigation corroborated the claim, according to Palacios’ arrest affidavit.
The suit identified Palacios as Flatiron/Dragados’ Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Manager, who was in attendance, and states that she was “observed by fellow Flatiron Dragados employees to be obviously heavily intoxicated to the extent that she presented a clear danger to herself and others.”
Just before 7:30 p.m., Palacios then drove a Chevrolet Traverse north in the southbound lanes of Hwy. 181 over the Harbor Bridge, hitting a Mazda, driven by Banda, head-on. Mandujano was in the passenger seat.
Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
As she continued driving over the Harbor Bridge, Palacios then hit Donaho’s Ford Expedition.
Donaho was taken to the hospital with a fractured leg.
The accident led to sweeping changes to exit ramps from the Harbor Bridge into the Port Area near the restaurant.
Donaho’s lawsuit alleges that Palacios entered the bridge driving down Belden Street, and turned right on North Tancahua Street near Concrete Street Amphitheater. The suit then states she turned right on Power Street and onto the Harbor Bridge using that exit ramp.
Soon after the accident, the bridge’s Power Street and Tancahua Street exits were blocked, ramps several intoxicated drivers used to access Hwy. 181.
This is a developing story. 3NEWS will provide updates as they become available.