Texas woman killed, New York truck driver charged with manslaughter in Mesquite I-30 crash
Khasan Begbaev, 39, of Brooklyn, New York
MESQUITE, Texas - Dashcam footage recovered from an 18-wheeler shows the driver was backing down a highway ramp prior to a fatal early-morning crash that killed a Garland woman on Interstate 30 last week, according to court documents.
Khasan Begbaev, 39, of Brooklyn, New York, was arrested Friday and charged with second-degree felony manslaughter following the Sept. 4 crash.
Fatal I-30 crash
What we know:
According to an arrest warrant affidavit from the Mesquite Police Department, emergency crews responded at 3:17 a.m. to the transition ramp from westbound I-30 to northbound Interstate 635, where a brown Chevrolet Equinox was trapped under the rear of a Freightliner semi-trailer. The SUV caught fire shortly after the collision, requiring officers and firefighters to extinguish the flames before extricating the victim.
The driver of the SUV, identified as 33-year-old Lisa Maldonado of Garland, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4:35 a.m.
Begbaev initially told investigators he had taken the wrong exit while trying to head toward Austin and was driving slowly in the left lane with his hazard lights on to switch lanes. In a written statement, he claimed Maldonado struck his trailer at high speed while he was attempting to turn right.
However, investigators inspecting the truck noticed a dashcam mounted on the front windshield with black tape covering its screen. After obtaining consent to check the device, an investigator accessed the video files.
Police said the camera footage showed the semi-truck stop on the ramp at 2:32 a.m. and begin slowly reversing down the highway while other vehicles passed on the right. Video captured the impact of Maldonado’s vehicle striking the rear of the backing semi at 2:34 a.m., after which the truck briefly stopped before pulling forward a short distance, according to the affidavit.
Both Texas and New York state laws explicitly prohibit backing up on a controlled-access highway or its shoulders. Investigators noted in court documents that as a licensed commercial driver, Begbaev consciously disregarded an unjustifiable risk by backing down the ramp at night.
A drug recognition expert evaluated Begbaev at the scene and found no signs of impairment. He voluntarily submitted to a blood draw before being booked into the Mesquite City Jail.
The crash remains under investigation by the Mesquite Police Department Traffic Unit.
The Source: Information in this article is from the Mesquite Police Department.