April Gonzales and Vincent Banks Die After Car Plunges Off Bridge and is Hit by Train

Two passengers died and the driver was injured when their car plunged off an overpass and was hit by a train early Monday in Southwest Side San Antonio.

The accident happened just before 1 a.m. when a driver of a 2000 Lincoln sedan heading south on Cupples Road lost control, hit the median and swerved off a bridge south of General Hudnell Drive.

Police said the car was traveling at 100 mph when it plunged off the roadway and landed upside down about 150 feet below, on the railroad tracks. Then an eastbound train approached and clipped the car.

“They sounded the train whistle and applied the emergency brake in order to avoid the collision, but couldn’t stop before the impact,” said Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza-Williams.

Two passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. They were identified as 26-year-old April Gonzales and 18-year-old Vincent Banks.

The driver, Rosalio Roman Padilla, 31, was booked by proxy at University Hospital at about noon on two counts of intoxication manslaughter, with bail set at $150,000.