Lower Valley domestic-disturbance suspect dies in car crash fleeing El Paso police

Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times
Updated ·2 min read

A man suspected in a domestic disturbance died in a car crash as he fled from El Paso police officers in the Lower Valley over the weekend, officials said.

Ivan Ignacio Frescas, 42, of Socorro, died from his injuries in the crash, which occurred about 1:30 a.m. Saturday at a curve on the 8000 block of Yermoland Drive next to Lafayette Park, police said.

The incident began after officers responded to a call of a domestic disturbance at an apartment complex at 670 N. Carolina Drive near Officer David Ortiz Park. A 45-year-old woman told police that she had an argument with Frescas, who refused to leave her alone and had a handgun in his car, a police news release stated.

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While police were talking to the woman, Frescas returned to the scene. Officers approached and ordered Frescas to show his hands and step out of his car, but he refused, police said. One officer then used a Taser electric stun-gun to try to subdue Frescas.

"Frescas managed to break free from the Taser. He backed up the car nearly pinning the officers, and then fled at a high rate of speed nearly hitting the officers," a police news release stated.

After Frescas drove away, another police officer, who was driving to the scene as backup, saw Frescas speeding in the opposite direction heading east on Yermoland, police said.

The officer turned around to try to pull over the car, but lost sight of it at a curve in the road, police said. Frescas crashed into a guardrail and a rock wall at a house next to Tarrant Road.

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Traffic investigators are waiting on test results to determine if alcohol or drugs were factors in the wreck, which occurred about a mile east of the apartments on North Carolina Drive.

The crash was the 22nd traffic-related death of the year in El Paso and one of three fatalities over the weekend, including a pair of collisions early Sunday on Joe Battle Boulevard and Edgemere Boulevard in the far East Side and on Dyer Street in the Northeast.

There had been 28 traffic-related deaths at this time last year, according to Police Department figures.

An El Paso police car at a crime scene. File art.
An El Paso police car at a crime scene. File art.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso domestic-disturbance suspect dies in Lower Valley car crash