Drunk driver had medical license revoked

Court testimony earlier this month that a repeat drunken driver was a skilled X-ray technician and should be spared a seven-year prison sentence did not disclose that the man has not been licensed in his field for almost two years.

Hector De la Torre’s state license as a medical radiologic technologist expired Dec. 31, 2005, Stephanie Tijerina of the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday.

On Dec. 6, after hearing testimony from Dr. Juan Rocha and others in the medical field, state District Court Judge Benjamin Euresti placed De la Torre on probation so he could return to work.

Rocha, a podiatrist who spoke at the Dec. 6 hearing, said, “It is necessary that (De la Torre) return to work.”

Attorney Ernesto Gamez in court described his client as “a damn good employee.”

Gamez said at the time that De la Torre’s employers are Lower Valley Imaging and Legacy, an X-ray facility.

No telephone listings were available for this company.

Employees at other X-ray and imaging companies in Harlingen, Brownsville and McAllen said they have never heard of the company.

De la Torre, Rocha and Gamez were not available for comment on Wednesday.

Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos was also unavailable for comment.

De la Torre must reapply to renew his expired license to perform X-rays and related work, Tijerina said.

But De la Torre could now be denied a professional license because he is a convicted felon, according to Section 53.02 of the Texas Occupations Code, if his drunken driving conviction directly related to his job duties.

De la Torre has eight DWI convictions, four of which were felonies, court records show.

Euresti on Nov. 1 sentenced De la Torre, 34, to seven years for violating the terms of his probation from a 2004 drunken driving arrest, court records state.

Gamez earlier said his client’s probation was revoked in November because he tampered with an ignition interlock device in his car that required him to take a breath test for alcohol each time he started the vehicle.

Gamez requested that Euresti reconsider the seven-year sentence. In the Dec. 6 court appearance, Euresti granted the motion, suspending the prison sentence and reinstating probation.

Although De la Torre’s driver’s license is now listed as “clear” on Department of Public Safety records, DPS sometimes administratively revokes or suspends a driver’s license because the driver either refuses to take a blood-alcohol test or tests above the legal limit of 0.08, DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said.

If a police agency stops a driver and they either refuse to take a blood-alcohol test or test above the limit, that agency will forward the report to the DPS, she said. The DPS will then send a letter to the driver informing them their license is suspended for two years, she said.

If that motorist wants to appeal “Administrative License Revocation,” they have 15 days to request an appeal hearing, she said. The action is separate from any court action, she said.

De la Torre’s tally of eight DWI convictions — according to court records — is hardly a record, Mange said.

“We’ve got people with more than 20 DWIs. I know of one with 24,” Mange said. “Over 90,000 DWI arrests a year are made in Texas,” she said.

Ana Verley, of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the organization has received telephone calls and e-mails demanding that MADD “do something” about the De la Torre case.

But the group does not take actions such as “monitoring the DA’s office” or making statements against a judge or district attorney or taking any actions that might be considered favoring or pressuring a public official or getting involved in politics, Verley said.

“It is up to those people (who called or e-mailed) to do something,” she said. “They live in that community.”