SAN ANTONIO -- Wearing sunglasses to hide swollen, red eyes brought about by hours of crying, Monica Olveda told us she tried many times to get police to stop her son. She feared someone would get hurt, and that’s exactly what she said happened Monday.
"I thought for a minute. Is this real? It was like a dream. I knew it. I knew it," Olveda told us.
Olveda said her son was drinking too much and taking pills. She received a call from him after he was arrested.
"He said 'I killed a boy," and I couldn't breathe," recalled Olveda.
Police charged her son, 27-year-old John Albert Hernandez, with intoxication manslaughter and several counts of intoxication assault after a boy was killed and four other family members hurt in a car crash.
Investigators said Hernandez slammed into the back of a truck carrying the Barrientos family. According to investigators, the truck veered into traffic and collided with a minivan in the 4200 block of Southwest Military Drive.
One of the children inside the truck, 11-year-old Bryan Barrientos, died. His mother and siblings were treated at University Hospital.
Tuesday, students and teachers at Sam Rayburn Middle School mourned the loss of the sixth grader. Monica Olveda offered the family an apology.
"When it happened, I wished I was there to help them. I just wanted to hold them and say I'm sorry," said Olveda.
Olveda said her son is bipolar and refused to take his prescribed medication. He has two boys with his long-time girlfriend, Kim Rios. Rios believes he regrets getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.
"I know he's sitting in jail feeling bad for the little boy's family," Rios said through tears. "It broke their family apart. It broke our family apart. It’s just hard.”
