Teen driver found guilty in officer’s death

At 2:30 p.m., an hour after being sent to take a break and begin deliberations, jurors returned a verdict finding now 20-year-old Luis Torres guilty of the crime of “intoxication manslaughter causing the death of a peace officer.” Presiding Criminal District Court Judge John Stevens then notified the jurors that the penalty phase of the proceedings would begin immediately.

Torres was found to have been criminally responsible for the accident that took the life of Beaumont Police Officer Sheena Yarbrough-Powell in 2020. Torres was driving the wrong way on the interstate, with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit even though he was just 18 years old at the time of the crash, according to evidence presented during his trial.

Read more in the July 28 edition of The Examiner newspaper.