Drunk Driver Indicted for Major Crash on Bell Street

SAN ANGELO— A San Angelo driver has been indicted for seriously injuring another individual after crashing into her vehicle on Bell Street last summer.

Jacob Motl, 31, was indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury for Intoxication Assault with a Vehicle Causing Serious Bodily Injury.

According to court documents, on June 18, 2023, a San Angelo police officer overheard dispatch call a major vehicle accident at the intersection of South Bell Street and Van Zandt Street. When the officer arrived, a blue Dodge Durango with major front-end damage was sitting in the middle of the street with a white pickup truck facing the other direction that also had extensive damage to the front end.

A man was talking to another officer while personnel from the San Angelo Fire Department were working on getting the victim out of the pickup truck. The man talking to the officer turned out to be the defendant, identified as Motl, who was intoxicated and was the driver of the Dodge Durango.

A witness told officers that, as first responders arrived, that Motl had said to her, “We’re f**ked up.”. As the officer approached Motl, he was seen swaying back and forth while standing still and had poor balance. When asked where he was coming from, Motl said that he and his girlfriend were out “cruising”. He had also said that they were driving up the down the Loop 306.

As Motl was speaking to the officer, he could not really smell the alcohol as Motl was smoking and wearing a lot of cologne. When he stepped behind Motl, the smell of alcohol was extremely strong. Motl agreed to perform field sobriety tests and, while walking towards the patrol vehicle, was staggering and had to grab the push bar on the patrol unit to keep his balance.

During the “Walk-and-Turn” test, Motl nearly fell to the ground and the officer terminated the tests to prevent Motl from being injured. Due to his condition, Motl was placed in handcuffs and in the back of a patrol vehicle. Another officer with the injured victim in the pickup said that she had been pulled from the wreckage and had sustained, from what officers could tell at the time, a compound fracture to her ankle. According to the San Angelo Police Department, the victim was flown to Lubbock to get treatment for her injuries.

While transporting Motl to the jail, he informed the officer that he had vomited in the back of the patrol unit. He was given a breath test that came back with a .155 and a .148 result.

Motl was arrested and booked into the Tom Green County Jail on June 18, 2023, and was released the same day on $15,000 bond. He is next due in court on post indictment reporting on January 17, 2024.