Drunk driver kills 29-year-old; family demands safer road

BASTROP COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) -- A family is looking for answers and solutions to what they call a dangerous stretch of road in Bastrop County.

Oct. 13 is a day that the Davis family will never forget.

Grayson Davis, 29, was returning home from a trip to Florida, driving on FM 535 near Cedar Creek Drive. Around 8 p.m. that night, a drunk driver going the wrong way hit Grayson's car head-on.

"He was about a mile from home. Just about to his driveway when it happened," Ashley Davis, Grayson's mother, told KXAN. "[The crash] caused our son's truck to just be destroyed. It flipped. They had to pull my son out and airlift him to Austin."

For three days, Grayson fought for his life in a coma.

"We prayed that he would make it and God had other plans," his mother said. "But I know him. And I know he gave it a good fight."

Authorities allege the drunk driver came from a bar that is especially popular on the weekends.

Meanwhile, the man accused of killing Davis is in the Bastrop County jail. Jorge Peralta, 35, faces a felony charge of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle. He is currently held at the Bastrop County Jail.

DPS said the crash investigation remains open and ongoing.

'A really bad stretch'

The Davis family, now left reeling with the fact Grayson is gone, said they hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.

"He was just a people's person," his mom said. "He loved everyone, and reach out to everyone, and it showed because they showed up for him."

The family said that FM 535 is plagued with problems.

"A really bad stretch of road," said Todd Davis, Grayson's father. "Poorly paved. Poorly everything. No shoulder."

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) told KXAN it has stepped up patrols on this stretch of road.