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Police officer, wrong-way driver killed in crash
By Eva Ruth Moravec
emoravec@express-news.net
Updated 05:51 p.m., Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A San Antonio police officer and a
suspected drunken driver were killed early Tuesday when the man —
who was on probation for a DWI charge — drove his SUV head-on into the officer's patrol car while going the wrong way without headlights on Interstate 35 downtown, authorities said.
Officer Stephanie Ann Brown, 27, was responding to a call for an officer in trouble, driving south on the upper level of the interstate around 2 a.m. when the collision occurred near McCullough Avenue.
Christopher David Baldaramos, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Public records show he has lived in San Antonio since 2005 and his lawyer said he had served eight years in the U.S. Army.
He pleaded no contest to a driving while intoxicated charge in September stemming from a June arrest and was granted probation, according to Bexar County records.
Brown died about 2:50 a.m. at University Hospital, according to the Bexar County medical examiner's office. She was a three-year SAPD veteran and had been working a shift for a fellow officer, Police Chief William McManus said at the scene of the crash.
Flags at police stations were lowered to half-staff.
Brown had a baby girl and was dating another patrolman who worked out of the North substation, said Mike Helle, the police union president. Her father, Stanley Brown, is also a San Antonio police officer, Helle said.
“I remember how proud he was when his daughter graduated,” he added.
Persons at the home owned by Stanley Brown declined immediate comment.
“It is so sad and shocking,” said a neighbor, Air Force Master Sgt. Reginald Prothro.He said he would frequently see Brown doing yard work Saturday mornings outside the two-story stone and stucco residence and recalled “a very friendly person who always had a friendly smile and a wave when we drove by.”
“The Realtor who sold us our house last year highlighted the idea that several
law enforcement officers live in the area,” and pointed out the “police family” living on the street, Prothro added.
A police officer who visted the home Tuesday afternoon, who did not want to be identified, said the family was clearly distraught.
“Obviously, they're very, very sad and they're very hurt,” he said.
An officer who witnessed Tuesday's crash said he didn't see any headlights on Baldaramos' 2004 Nissan Xterra, nor did he see any braking or evasive action, a police report states.
A receipt from a bar was in Baldaramos' pocket, it states. The report does not name the bar.
Police had received no calls about a wrong-way driver on the highway before the crash, McManus said.
Helle said lawmakers in Austin need to address drunken driving during the current legislative session by allowing checkpoints and increasing penalties for repeat offenders.
Legislators “need to wake up,” Helle said. “We're getting hammered out here.”
The crash that killed Brown was the third in the past six months involving a police officer and a suspected drunken driver.
“It's been a bad past several months,” McManus said.
It occurred during a “no refusal” week for the Spring Break holiday, in which the Bexar County District Attorney's office arranges to have motorists undergo mandatory blood draws if they are suspected of driving while intoxicated and refuse to use a breath-alcohol test.
Baldaramos' court-appointed attorney in the DWI case last year, David Allen Levine, said Baldaramos had recently left the U.S. Army as a sergeant in a medical detachment after eight years of service and was in school pursuing a medical career.
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, asked that the Texas Senate adjourn in the fallen officer's memory when it closed at 12:25 p.m. Tuesday
“We have lost a brave public servant and it is a heartbreaking tragedy for San Antonio and the entire state,” she said in an e-mailed statement.
Brown is the second female SAPD officer to die in the line of duty. Officer Patricia Calderon, 26, drowned in Salado Creek in 1988 while pursuing a suspected shoplifter.
McManus has spoken in favor of House Bill 99, a measure that would increase penalties for drivers who have more than twice the legal limit of blood alcohol from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor on the first offense.
He has also backed House Bill 439, which would require an ignition interlock device installed in vehicles of first-time offenders and House Bill 473, which would establish statewide highway checkpoints to catch suspected drunken drivers.
Staff writers Michelle Mondo and Guillermo X. Garcia contributed to this report.
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