A Garland family is grieving the loss of a 25-year-old killed by an alleged drunk driver.
Lesley Mandujano was on her way home from a movie night with friends, her family said, when she was struck.
Mandujano was ambitious, loved sports and loved life, her parents say.
“She was funny and loud, and she was always smiling, and she would always annoy me but she was my baby and I loved her so much,” said mom Rosario Saenz.
Just before midnight on Friday, April 22, police in Garland say another car ran a red light and slammed into her car at the intersection of Country Club Drive and U.S. 66.
Her car, they say, launched into a telephone pole where she died before first responders could arrive.
“My sister didn’t deserve this,” said her brother Jose Mandujano, who answered the door when police arrived to deliver the news.
“Having to call my parents and tell them that I lost my sister, it was the hardest part hearing that,” Jose Mandujano said tearfully.
Lonnie Komahcheet, 19, was arrested at the scene.
An arrest affidavit says police “detected a [sic] odor of alcohol on Lonnie’s breath” and that he had “stuttered speech.”
It says he admitted he, “smoked marijuana earlier in the day,” and after initially denying drinking alcohol, when pressed by an officer, the affidavit says he responded, “ok, I had a beer.”
Komahcheet is charged with intoxication manslaughter. Friday, he’d posted bond at the Dallas County jail.
Flowers and candles are being left at the intersection where Mandujano died.
Her funeral was held Friday evening.
