Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

A man was killed in a rear-end collision yesterday around 3:00 p.m. The man’s Jeep Cherokee had broken down on the East Beltway 8 feeder road near West Lake Houston Parkway. The man had called a family member for assistance and was waiting in his vehicle when it was struck from behind by a wrecker, causing the Jeep to catch fire. The wrecker driver and one other person pulled the man from the Jeep and attempted CPR but the man died at the accident scene.

Photo credit: KHOU Channel 11 News

Photo credit: Channel 11 News Houston

Houston personal injury attorneys since 1989: Smith & Hassler law firm.

A fire truck was stopped on Highway 288 this morning with light and sirens operating when a black Ranger Rover rear-ended the fire truck, injuring a Houston Fire Department firefighter. The fire truck was stopped to assist a motorist who vehicle was disabled. Channel 2 News Houston reported on the accident, and while the driver of the Range Rover was not identified by law enforcement, Channel 2 ran the license plate on the Range Rover and learned it is registered to 29-year old former NFL player Brian Iwuh. Iwuh, who was born in Houston, played for the University of Colorado, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Chicago Bears and the Denver Broncos. Houston Police Department spokesperson J.R. Roberts told Channel 2 that the DWI task force was at the hospital with the driver of the Range Rover and will make a determination whether a case needs to be referred to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The firefighter who was hurt in the accident is expected to recover well.  According to Channel 2’s story, family members of the driver showed up at the accident scene and were drinking beer. The driver of the Range Rover has not yet been identified, but it was reported he was not wearing a seat belt.

Houston drunk driving accident attorneys; Houston automobile accident attorneys

Photo credit: Channel 2 News

Photo credit: Channel 2 News Houston

Photo credit: Channel 2 News Houston

Unfortunately this is a fairly typical event for a holiday weekend in Houston.  A drunk driver caused a head-on crash at around 2:15 a.m. on Memorial Day (Monday) morning.  The male driver was heading westbound on Washington Avenue when he veered over into the center lane at Snover Street, hitting another car head-on, pushing that car backwards into a third vehicle.  A female driver in the vehicle that was struck head-on was transported to the hospital.  The suspected drunk driver was arrested at the scene: his name has not been released.  Washington Avenue was temporarily shut down in both directions as police worked the scene.

Drunk driving accident attorney; car accident attorney.

49-year old Aurora Garcia and her 17-year old son were driving eastbound on Hardin Store Road north of Tomball when their vehicle was struck head-on by a Chevy pickup truck. Ms. Garcia was driving a 1996 Toyota Sedan and her 17-year old was her passenger.  Trooper Kenneth Hebert with the Texas Department of Public Safety told Channel 2 News that a 2000 model Chevy pickup truck was heading westbound on Hardin Store Road when it failed to maintain its lane in a curve, crossed the center line and struck Ms. Garcia’s car head-on. It appears that the pickup fled the scene, rather than the occupants fleeing the scene as earlier reports had indicated.  Although a perimeter was set up, police have not yet caught the culprits.  Ms. Garcia’s son was rushed to hospital in critical condition; Ms. Garcia herself was pronounced dead at the scene.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News Houston

A Houston Fire Department Captain was injured over the weekend when his fire truck was hit by a suspected drunk driver. At 10:30 p.m. on Saturday a fire crew was on their way to a call on US 290 and was making a turn onto West 34th Street in Houston when their fire truck was hit by a pickup. The Captain was taken to the emergency room, fortunately not for life-threatening injuries. The driver who caused the accident was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The fire truck had lights and sirens operating when it was hit by the pickup truck.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News Houston

Police arrested 29-year old Anthony Adam Garcia for allegedly driving drunk and crashing into the back of a HPD patrol car that was conducting a traffic stop (ironically on another suspected drunk driver). The three car accident happened on the I-45 feeder road near Aldine Bender at around 3:00 a.m. on Monday. The stopped police car had its lights on at the time, but Garcia apparently didn’t slow down, and obviously didn’t move over. Garcia’s vehicle flipped over in the  wreck and the impact was enough to push the police car forward into the pickup truck stopped ahead of it, shattering the back window glass of the cruiser. According to Channel 2’s report nobody was injured, including a police dog sitting in the back of the cruiser.

A motorcycle rider was injured in an accident this morning when he was hit by a wrong-way driver in the HOV lane of the Southwest Freeway (US 59) during this morning’s rush hour.  The accident happened around 8:30 a.m. at 59 and Hillcroft.  METRO officials say the wrong-way driver was elderly, and that after the motorcycle was struck by the wrong-way vehicle it then hit a third vehicle.  The motorcyclist was transported to Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston.

Photo credit: Tim Wetzel / KHOU 11 News

According to police investigators a 51-year old woman was transported to the emergency room with a possible broken leg after a hit-and-run accident in front of the Michoacan Restaurant in the 2300 block of Wirt Road in northwest Houston.  The woman and her mother were standing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant when a white SUV struck the woman and also crashed into the front of the building.  Per Channel 2’s news article, witnesses saw a Hispanic female climb into the driver’s seat while it was occupied by a Hispanic male, at which point it appears one of them hit the accelerator causing the SUV to shoot forward.  The SUV took off without stopping to provide information or render aid.  Hopefully there is surveillance footage available from the nearby businesses, though it will probably require someone coming forward to identify the hit-and-run driver or the SUV.

A Cardinal Coach Line bus en route to a casino overturned on State Highway 161 today killing two people on board and injuring dozens more. The bus tipped onto its passenger side just east of Dallas Fort Worth airport in Irving, Texas.  Dan Risik, a passenger on the bus, told KXAS that passengers in the bus were screaming and had been thrown on top of one another during the crash.  The bus was heading to Choctaw Casino Resort in Oklahoma; Risik reported that many of the injured passengers on the bus were elderly folk. According to a report in the Mail Online, the Texas Department of Public Safety has not yet determined the cause of the bus crash.

Cardinal Coach Line is based in Mansfield, Texas near Dallas. According to the safety page on Cardinal’s web site, the company “…regularly inspects their coaches to insure (sic) on time schedules.”  The company web site also states that: “Cardinal Coach Line carries $5,000,000 of liability insurance for your group’s protection.”  The page goes on to state “No accidents, no moving violations, no D.O.T. driver or vehicle out of services orders, no D.O.T. out of service violations.”

Photo credit: Associated Press

Photo credit: Associated Press