Driver faces charges in death of local woman

A Dallas man is in the Donley County Jail this week after a December 12 car wreck that caused the death of a Clarendon woman.

Fifty-one-year-old Delfino Frias-Aragonez is facing charges of first degree Intoxicated Manslaughter and third degree Intoxicated Assault, according Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Chase Overbeeke.

Frias-Aragonez was driving a 2005 Chevrolet pickup westbound on US 287 about two miles west of Clarendon last Thursday at about 8 a.m. when he abruptly crossed the median at an acute angle, Overbeeke said. The pickup spun once in the median before entering the eastbound lanes and colliding head-on with a 2014 Chevrolet Malibu driven by 25-year-old Amy Martinez of Clarendon.

Overbeeke said the pickup’s speedometer was stuck at 82 when it came to rest and he reported that witnesses said it was traveling faster than that before it entered the median.
The trooper said Frias-Aragonez showed signs of intoxication, and a blood draw was taken with consent from the man. Authorities believe Frias-Aragonez was impaired on heroin.

The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department responded to the accident and worked with EMS personnel to extricate three people from the wrecked automobiles. All four were transported to Amarillo for medical treatment, including the drivers, pickup passenger Miguel Angel Zuniga-Artesan, 49, of Dallas and Malibu passenger Jose Morales, Jr., 26, of Clarendon.

Overbeeke said everyone involved suffered serious injuries, but Martinez suffered the most trauma. She underwent surgery but passed away at 12:44 p.m. on Friday, December 13.

The trooper said Frias-Aragonez has a long criminal history. He and Zuniga-Artesan are not US citizens and are believed to be in the country illegally. They have both been living in the Dallas area, but neither have a place of residence. The pickup they were driving was registered to a Wylie, Texas, man.

Responding to the accident in addition to the DPS and CVFD were the Donley County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Associated Ambulance Authority, and the Hedley Volunteer Fire Department.