On July 11th, 2020, at approximately 10:40pm, officers with the New Braunfels Police Department and paramedics with the New Braunfels Fire Department were called to the 600 block of North Business 35 in front of the Marketplace Shopping Center for a collision between a silver Ford Transit 350 van and a white Ford Focus.
Officers arrived and found that the male driver of the Ford Focus was deceased at the scene. The victim has since been identified as 26-year old Michael John Maraist from San Antonio. Next of kin has been notified and an autopsy has been ordered by Justice of the Peace for Pct. 1 Tom Clark.
The occupants of the van included six people: two adults and four children, all from the same family. The driver of the vehicle (a 39-year old male from New Braunfels) and the passenger (a 36-year old female from New Braunfels) along with their four children (ages 7, 5, 3, and 8 months old) were all transported to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital – New Braunfels with varying degrees of non-life threatening injuries.
The portion of North Business 35 in that immediate area was closed so that the scene could be thoroughly investigated by the NBPD Traffic Unit. The preliminary results of the investigation indicate that the Ford Focus was traveling at a high rate of speed on the southbound I-35 access road when it missed a turn in the road, left the roadway, went through a grassy median, and then entered the oncoming lanes of traffic on North Business 35 where it was struck by the Ford Transit van.
The investigation into the incident continues; however, no criminal charges are expected to be filed.