A joy-riding Houston housewife was showing off her new $150,000 Porsche when she drunkenly mowed down a man on a date, one of her passengers revealed.
Arllette Reyes told jurors at the manslaughter trial against Kristina Chambers that she met up with Chambers at a bar before getting in the car with her for a terrifying ride that ended with the death of Joe McMullen on April 20, 2023.
Chambers blames her Christian Louboutin heels for the crash, claiming they slipped and caused her to accelerate into McMullen, who was leaving a donut shop on a first date.
Kristina Chambers, the wealthy Texas housewife on trial for manslaughter, bragged about her $150,000 Porsche before allegedly drunkenly getting behind the wheel, a witness testified. Houston Police
At Lola’s Depot, a dive bar, Chambers told Reyes about about how she was an influencer and that her hedge fund manager husband purchased a Porsche 911 Carrera for her for $149,000 just two months earlier, Reyes recounted.
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“I was hoping I could get a ride in it,” Reyes told jurors, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Chambers flaunted her wealth to her pals, living in a $1.6 million, modernist McMansion with husband Xuan Si. He filed for divorce after her arrest.
So Reyes, Chambers and a third friend got in the sports car and Chambers floored it for a short ride to her home.
But the alleged drunken driver — who had gone restaurant and bar hopping that night — was going so fast she missed a turn and careened into oncoming traffic, Reyes testified.
“I was praying or wondering why I was there,” the witness said.
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Chambers is accused of fatally crashing into Joe McMullin, who was standing on a sidewalk during her out-of-control cruise.
Reyes recalled seeing a man and a woman standing on the sidewalk as the car was headed toward them.
“It all happened so fast,” she said. “One second we were on the wrong side of the road and then we were going to the right and I saw them. I think I put my hands out. I think I closed my eyes. I felt like there was nothing I could do.”
Reyes said she now knows the man and woman they hit were McMullin, 33, and Briana Iturrino.
The pair had gone to karaoke for a first date, and Iturrino narrowly avoided injury in the crash.
Chambers allegedly told her pal at the bar that she had just been gifted the $150,000 Porsche 911 Carrera by her husband two-months prior, a witness said. KHOU 11
Reyes was the last witness called by prosecutors Tuesday. Chambers’ team began calling toxicology and intoxication experts, according to a report by Fox 26.
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Prosecutor Andrew Figliuzzi told jurors during opening statements Friday that Chambers was “itching to show off her sports car,” despite allegedly being blind drunk.
Her blood alcohol was allegedly .301% — or almost four times the legal limit — an hour after the wreck. She also had traces of cocaine in her system, prosecutors said.
But Chambers’ lawyer Mark Thiessen told jurors the heel of her pricey pumps got stuck on the gas pedal at the same moment she started driving down “one of Houston’s most dangerous curves.”
Chambers had allegedly been bar hopping in the hours before the crash.
An earlier witness, Officer Joseph Little, told jurors about how Chambers blew hundreds of dollars that night so her and her friend could feast on delicacies and drink cocktails and wine.
She spent $800, including $669 on a meal at high-end joint Bludom, where she splurged on caviar, oysters, martinis, wine, risotto and potato wedges, Little testified, citing bank records.
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She and her pal went to at least four bars where, prosecutors estimate Chambers consumed at least six alcoholic drinks.
Chambers and Reyes were hospitalized after the crash.
She faces between up to 20 years behind bars if convicted.
Netflix was sued Monday (May 11) by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who accused the streaming company of spying on children and other consumers by collecting their data without consent, and designing its platform to be addictive. Ram Nabong reports.
Evercore ISI senior managing director Mark Mahaney joins Varney & Co. to discuss the departure of Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings and to address questions about the company’s future leadership and strategy.
The state of Texas announced a lawsuit against streaming giant Netflix on Monday, accusing the company of spying on children and other consumers by collecting their data without consent and designing the platform to be addictive.
Texas claims that Netflix has falsely represented to consumers that it didn’t collect or share user data while it actually tracked and sold viewers’ habits and preferences to commercial data brokers and advertising technology companies.
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The lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claims that “Netflix’s endgame is simple and lucrative: get children and families glued to the screen, harvest their data while they are stuck there, and then monetize the data for a handsome profit.”
The state of Texas announced a lawsuit against streaming giant Netflix on Monday. (Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“When you watch Netflix, Netflix watched you,” Texas added in the lawsuit.
NETFLIX CO-FOUNDER REED HASTINGS TO STEP DOWN, DEPARTURE IS ‘SPOOKING INVESTORS’
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The complaint quotes comments made by former CEO Reed Hastings who said in 2020, while he was still leading the streaming company, that “we don’t collect anything,” amid questions over Big Tech companies’ data collection practices.
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Netflix was also accused of quietly using “dark patterns” to keep users watching on its platform, such as an autoplay feature that starts a new show after a different show ends.
NETFLIX RAISES SUBSCRIPTION PRICES ACROSS ALL PLANS
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit. (Cheney Orr/Reuters)
Paxton said in a press release that Netflix “has built a surveillance program designed to illegally collect and profit from Texans’ personal data without their consent, and my office will do everything in our power to stop it.”
The attorney general said he’s charging Netflix under the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeks to require Netflix to stop the unlawful collection and disclosure of user data, require Netflix to disable autoplay by default on kid’s profiles, and to secure injunctive relief and civil penalties.
Six people were found dead inside a cargo train boxcar in a Texas city along the southern border on Sunday, officials said.
The bodies were found in a Union Pacific train at a rail yard in Laredo, around 160 miles south of San Antonio, just after 3:30 p.m. local time, said Jose Espinoza, a public information officer with the Laredo Police Department.
The circumstances of their deaths are unknown, said Laredo police spokesperson Joe Baeza, according to CNN affiliate KGNS, and an investigation is underway.
Union Pacific operates across the border and is the only railroad that services all access points into Mexico, according to the freight company’s website.
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Temperatures on Sunday afternoon in Laredo were in the low-mid 90s, though it’s unclear whether heat was a factor.
Union Pacific said it was saddened by the incident and is working closely with law enforcement to investigate.
Laredo police said they received a call around 3 p.m. from an employee at the Union Pacific rail yard, KGNS reported. The bodies were discovered during a routine rail car inspection, police said. No survivors were found.
CNN has reached out to Laredo police for more information.
“It’s a very early phase of the investigation. There’s not a lot to reveal right now,” Baeza said, KGNS reported.
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The immigration status and ages of the deceased are not yet known, Espinoza said.
US Customs and Border Protection referred CNN to the Laredo Police Department, saying “The incident remains under investigation by Laredo Police Department and Homeland Security Investigation and Texas Rangers.”
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, HSI and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“It’s a very unfortunate event,” Espinoza told CNN. “It was too many lives that were lost.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
