Police say two alleged street racers face significant charges in a tragic incident that killed six members of an innocent North Texas family, including two children.
It happened about 1500 South Belt Line Road after 8 p.m. on Saturday.
According to Grand Prairie police, a Chevy Traverse was going north on South Belt Line Rd when it collided with a red Dodge Charger while turning left into Kingston Drive.
Three occupants of the Traverse were pronounced deceased on the scene. Two other people in the vehicle were taken to a nearby hospital, where one died from their injuries. The fifth passenger is still in critical condition, according to authorities.
Photos released on a crowdsourcing site depict the Rosales family of Garland, who were killed in the disaster.
In one shot, the family celebrates someone’s 47th birthday, while in another, the family embraces a young girl displaying a school award.
Five members of the Rosales family were in the Traverse when it collided with the alleged illegal street racer.
Both parents, Jessie and Lorena Rosales perished at the scene. Stephanie, 13 years old, and Angel, 6, perished as well. A third child, aged 16, is in critical condition at the hospital.
Garland ISD verifies that the youngsters were students in the district.
Witnesses at the scene captured video of the aftermath of the crash, showing one automobile flipped on its side and engulfed in flames, while the front end of another car was shattered to bits by the power of the wreck.
The collision occurred on a fast-moving stretch of Belt Line Road in Grand Prairie, a four-lane roadway that connects I-20 and I-30.
According to witness accounts to police, detectives believe the driver of the red Charger was speeding and racing another car, a white Dodge Charger Daytona that fled the area after the incident.
The driver of the red Charger has been identified as 20-year-old Jaime Mesa, who was taken to a nearby hospital with non-critical injuries.
Mesa is currently in police custody and has been charged with four charges of highway racing resulting in death, four counts of manslaughter, one case of highway racing resulting in serious bodily injury, and one crime of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
On Sunday night, detectives discovered and detained Anthony Morales, 22, the driver of the white Charger that fled the scene.
Morales has been charged with four charges of highway racing causing death and one count of highway racing causing serious bodily injury.
Yvette Acosta is one of the witnesses who reported hearing screams coming from the victim’s automobile.
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“I haven’t been able to sleep well because of it,” she told me. “I can hear that, and just seeing them and not being able to help them, it’s very devastating.”
Acosta claims that illicit street racing was never an issue when she moved to the region 25 years ago, but it is now.
“Belt Line and 14th Street are the main ones where they’re always racing,” according to her. “You are putting people in danger. You are killing people. If they can think of their own family, imagine if this was your family. How would you feel if this were your family?
NBC 5 contacted Grand Prairie police, who reported a decrease in the number of street racing cases over the last five years.
According to GPPD data, 30 persons have been arrested for street racing in 2024, with at least 15 automobiles impounded.
Earlier this year, NBC 5 interviewed Dallas County prosecutors about new tactics they’ve been using to combat high-speed offenders.
“If something bad happens and you hit somebody, you kill them or hurt them, we’re going to do everything we can to prosecute you, and we will get the evidence, we’ll get your speed,” according to the Dallas County DA, John Creuzot.
The Dallas County Vehicular Crimes Unit can now get a warrant to download data from a car’s event data recorder, which can reveal exactly how fast a car was driving in the moments before a crash.
The unit has also started collecting location data from GPS systems and phone apps to calculate a driver’s speed.
“These are all very important, and they’re very impactful cases,” he said. “And we want to do our best to hold people accountable for them.”
“It was the craziest day of my life,” Ashik Maharzan explained.
Moments before the tragedy, Maharzan was working inside the Valero station that would become the collision site.
“I heard a big bang noise from there coming up, and I took a peek at it and I saw two people flying out of the window,” says Maharzan.
Maharzan told NBC 5 that he ran outside and discovered two murdered victims lying motionless on the street.
He stated he wanted to run to help, but the fire was too hot.
“There was just an explosion; I couldn’t even go near the fire; it was just that big,” Maharzan recalled. “People were yelling and crying there, and I saw the two bodies lying there.”
The fire spread to the wires hanging from utility poles above the wreckage.
As crews attempted to fix the damage on Sunday, residents reported their internet was anticipated to be out for the next two days.
Some people would feel the emotional impact of the crash for a long time.
“I couldn’t sleep for two or three hours, I couldn’t sleep,” Maharzan reportedly said. “That fire was in my mind for a couple of hours.”
The crash is still under investigation.