Austin Police arrested 27-year-old man last Thursday, May 21, after a fatal crash involving two vehicles and a pedestrian.
Police say after concluding a preliminary investigation that the suspect, Gary Joseph Brauneis, was driving a 2010 Mazda on US-183 service road when he struck the back of a truck sitting at a red light at Pond Springs Road.
The impact pushed the truck into the intersection but failed to stop the Mazda, which continued northbound before apparently losing control and driving onto a sidewalk, killing a woman there.
The victim was identified as Ginger Mattox, an African American woman born in 1989.
A police notice explains, “The impact pushed the truck forward into the intersection while the Mazda continued northbound before driving up on to the sidewalk, striking Ginger Mattox.”
Brauneis’ vehicle “ultimately came to a stop when it crashed into a nearby building,” police say.
The driver of the GMC truck was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. Ginger Mattox was transported to St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center where she died shortly thereafter.
Gary Brauneis was arrested and booked into the Williamson County Jail. He is charged with DWI and intoxication manslaughter.
This is Austin’s 34th fatal traffic crash of 2020, resulting in 36 fatalities this year. At this time in 2019, there were 33 traffic fatalities.
