Teen Arrested After DWI, High-Speed Pursuit Through Del Rio Streets

A white Nissan shot through a red light at E. 17th Street and Veterans Boulevard just after 1 a.m. on March 30, veering into oncoming traffic before a Del Rio police officer moved in and activated emergency lights and sirens. The driver, 17-year-old Emilio Segovia, did not stop.

What followed was a high-speed pursuit through Del Rio streets that ended only when the Nissan came to rest in the 1600 block of Avenue Q. Officers approached the stopped vehicle and immediately detected a strong odor of alcohol. Segovia was the sole occupant and was taken into custody on the scene.

Field sobriety tests administered at the stop produced multiple impairment clues. A subsequent breath sample returned a BAC greater than 0.15, nearly double the 0.08 percent threshold that triggers a DWI charge under Texas law. That number carries direct legal weight: state law treats a BAC at or above 0.15 as an enhanced DWI offense, elevating the charge from a Class B to a Class A misdemeanor and increasing the maximum penalties above those for a standard first-offense DWI.

Segovia faces two counts in total: the elevated DWI and a separate charge of fleeing from an officer. At 17, he occupies a legally complicated position. Texas zero tolerance law means that any detectable alcohol in an underage driver's system can support a driving under the influence of alcohol charge, but because Segovia's BAC cleared both the 0.08 adult threshold and the 0.15 enhancement marker, prosecutors can pursue the more serious adult DWI designation. Whether his case proceeds through juvenile or adult court will be determined during magistration. The addition of the fleeing charge compounds the prosecution's case and the range of penalties he faces if convicted.

After processing at the Del Rio Police Department, Segovia was transferred to the GEO Correctional Facility pending that magistration hearing. The department framed the arrest in its public release as a traffic safety intervention that removed a hazardous driver from Del Rio streets.

Texas averages more than 90,000 DWI arrests each year and records over 1,000 alcohol-related traffic deaths annually, placing it among the top states for impaired-driving fatalities. For Val Verde County, the E. 17th Street incident offers a local reference point for that statewide toll: a teenager behind the wheel in the early hours, a red-light violation, and a pursuit that could have ended far worse than it did on Avenue Q.