HOUSTON – A suspected drunken driver is facing charges after his Jeep flipped over while mudding, killing a passenger inside, according to the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office.
The deadly crash was reported Monday on a private property, located near the intersection of Patricia Lane and East FM 1462, outside the city limits of Alvin.
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James Devon Frausto, 20, was charged with manslaughter for the death of 20-year-old Zachary Ray Labauve.
The Sheriff’s Office responded to a report that a Jeep was mudding in a field and flipped over into a body of water and that a person was trapped underneath, deputies said.
When deputies arrived, they found the passenger underneath the Jeep and he was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Investigators said the Jeep was traveling on a levee when it began to roll down the levee and flipped into a body of water, fatally trapping Labauve inside. Investigators discovered that Frausto was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, deputies said.
Labauve’s body was taken to the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Frausto was arrested and booked into the Brazoria County Jail where he was charged with manslaughter. He has since posted a $50,000 bond and was released on Tuesday.