Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

ABC Channel 13 eyewitness news made brief reports of two accidents in the Houston area over the weekend.  In one accident on Sunday March 27th a 6-year old child pedestrian was struck by a car outside a Houston church at around 5:00PM. Churchgoers took the child in a private car to Fire Station 59 on Post Oak Boulevard. From there the firefighters took the child to Texas Children’s Hospital where the child was reported to be in stable condition.

Around 7:30PM on Saturday March 26th a man in his 50’s died in a motorcycle crash after it was claimed he took a curve at too high a speed. Harris County Sheriff’s Office investigators say Burl Alsbrooks was driving a 2000 model Honda Shadow motorbike and traveling at a high rate of speed northbound in the 7400 block of the Texas Spur 330. He took the exit ramp to the I-10 east freeway, westbound, at which time he lost control of the bike, left the roadway and hit the metal guardrail. Mr. Alsbrooks was wearing a helmet at the time but it was not a full face helmet, and he struck his face on the guardrail sustaining fatal injuries.  Our sympathies to Mr. Alsbrooks family and friends.

ABC Channel 13 news briefly reported a balcony collapse at an apartment complex in Kaufman, Texas that caused the death of 37-year old Jose Martinez-Hernandez. Kaufman is about 30 miles southeast of Dallas. Investigators say an engineer will inspect all of the balconies in the complex. The accident happened Saturday March 26th; Mr. Hernandez fell 12 feet. Reports from WFAA-TV indicate that residents of the complex say crews had been working on several balconies. That report identified the complex as Windtree Apartments in Kaufman.

Under Texas law, just because a person is injured on another’s property does not make the property owner automatically responsible for paying the injured person’s damages. There must be evidence of negligence on the part of the property owner and/or the person responsible for maintaining the property. Often in the context of an apartment complex a property management company is contracted by the owner of the complex to manage the apartments, including safety and maintenance. If you have been injured in a trip and fall or slip and fall incident on another person’s property and suspect the negligence of the property owner was the cause, call the experienced premises liability attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation.

Frederick Gustav Mueller, a 17-year old from Bellaire, was charged with intoxication manslaughter in a motorcycle versus pickup truck collision that killed a Jamaica Beach volunteer firefighter. Mueller was released on bond on Sunday. The police account of the fatal accident is that Mueller was driving his truck along the seawall near 83rd Street when he moved over into the right hand lane. Chris Norregard, the volunteer firefighter driving behind him, moved over to his left to go around Mueller’s vehicle, but then Mueller suddenly made a left turn causing Norregard to crash into the side of Mueller’s truck. Sadly Norregard was pronounced dead at the hospital. For 25-years Norregard had volunteered him time as a firefighter for Jamaica Beach. His colleagues remember him as a very giving and kind person who had helped many after Hurricane Ike hit, and even housed people at his home. Norregard was married and leaves behind two sons, both of whom volunteer with Jamaica Beach F.D.

Update: A Houston Press article on the accident written by George Flynn and published February 2, 2012 is available here. The detailed article examines the circumstances surrounding the accident, the eventual dismissal of the felony charge brought against Mueller, and the revelation that both drug and alcohol screenings revealed the teenager was not under the influence of any intoxicants at the time of the accident. According to the article, samples taken by the medical examiner from Norregard showed alcohol levels of .153 and .188, well above the legal level for intoxication of .08.

Bellaire teenager Frederick Gustav Mueller

Sunday February 13, 2011: a 21-year old motorcyclist died Sunday afternoon when he lost control of his motorcycle and hit a construction sign in northwest Houston. According to witnesses they saw three motorbikes traveling at high speed and weaving in and out of traffic on the north loop west around 4:20PM. One motorcyclist tried to switch lanes and side-swiped a Ford Fusion car according to Houston Police Department Vehicular Crimes division. The motorcyclist who was wearing a helmet lost control of his motorbike then slid along the ground before hitting a wooden construction sign. Sadly he was pronounced dead at the scene.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a motorcycle accident, call the experienced personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation on your injury claim. Of all the motorized transportation types on public roads, motorcycle accidents have the highest potential to cause serious injury or death: having a Smith & Hassler personal injury attorney working on your motorbike accident injury claim puts knowledge and experience on your side.

News Channel 2 is reporting that a motorcyclist was killed today at the exit from the Northwest Freeway to Skinner Road in Houston.  Harris County Sheriff’s deputies say the rider lost control of his motorbike as he exited the Northwest Freeway at around 9:30am. The motorcyclist hit a guardrail and was thrown from the motorbike into a ditch. The rider was determined to be dead at the scene, his name has not been released.

A motorcyclist died in a collision on the North Freeway near FM 1960 at around 6:00am Thursday October 7, 2010.  Witnesses told law enforcement officials that the motorcyclist Joell Herrera had been traveling at high speed and changing lanes prior to colliding with a Ford Explorer. After the collision Herrera was thrown from the motorcycle and the bike exploded. Herrera was wearing a motorcycle helmet but died at the scene from his injuries.

Many people wonder if they have to or should get a police report made when they are involved in an accident.  The answer to the question “Should I get a police report if I am in an accident?” is usually yes.  The purpose of a police accident report (sometimes referred to as a crash report) is to document who was involve, record important information and to document the officer’s investigation and conclusions as to who (if anyone) was at fault. In no particular order, a police accident report will include the following information:

* names of the drivers involved, driver’s addresses, driver’s license numbers, date of birth, driver’s license status (valid, invalid, etcetera), any restrictions (e.g. corrective lenses)
* year, make, model, color, license plate, VIN of the vehicles involved
* street(s) where the accident happened and applicable speed limits
* insurance company for each driver
* the road conditions, weather conditions, lighting
* witness information (if any)
* location and severity of the damage to the vehicles, where the vehicle were towed and the towing company
* who was injured and the apparent severity of their injuries
* statements of the drivers and witnesses
* not-to-scale diagram of the scene of the collision
* the officer’s opinion on who was at fault
* who was issued a citation, and what they were cited for
* the officer’s patrol area, badge number and name

The list above is not exhaustive, there is other information within a police report that is not included here.  Police officers are trained to investigate accidents and gather information that is important, so having a police officer make a report for your accident saves you the worry of trying to get all the necessary information yourself. Police officers should also investigate the accident in a neutral way, not favoring one side over the other, and witnesses may feel more comfortable telling the neutral police officer what they saw rather than telling their story to the drivers involved.

Police officers in Texas now have the ability to verify at an accident scene whether a particular vehicle has valid liability insurance. Having a police report can also speed up the claims process and give the other driver’s insurance company information they need to make a liability decision and decide whether they will pay a claim.

While people often want to be nice to the other driver and feel hesitant to get the police involved, particularly when the other driver is at the scene saying they are at fault, unfortunately sometime people who have caused an accident get home, have a chance to cool off and start rethinking whether they were really at fault. If there are no witnesses and no police report, you may be faced with a swearing match situation (your word against the other driver) which can get messy.

Some clients have told us in the past then when they called the police to request a report be made, they were told that if the vehicles can be moved from the roadway the drivers should swap information and go on their way.  You may need to politely push to have an officer sent to make a report, and it may mean you have to wait. Section 550.062 of the Texas Transportation Code says that an officer who investigates an accident resulting in injury to or death of a person or damage to property to the apparent extent of $1,000 or more must make a report and file that report with their department within 10-days of the date of the accident.

In the second accident this week in Houston involving a motor vehicle falling from height, a man was killed when he lost control of his Yamaha RS motorbike and fell at least 40 feet from an elevated entrance ramp leading from I-10 to US-59. The accident occurred at around 12:30am this morning and the man was transported to Ben Taub general hospital where he was pronounced dead. Apparently the man lost control and hit the retaining wall before being thrown from the motorbike and over the guard rail to the traffic lanes below. A driver of an 18-wheeler who saw the motorcycle and rider fall was able to stop his truck in time before hitting the motorcyclist. Police think the 31-year old man, who had no motorcycle license, was driving too fast when he entered the ramp.

The Transportation Department is reporting that traffic deaths fell 9.7 percent in 2009 to 33,808 fatalities, the lowest number since 1950.   In 2008 an estimated 37,423 people died on the highways.  A total of 41 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico saw reductions in fatalities, lead by Florida which had 422 fewer deaths, and Texas which was down 405 deaths. Economic downturns are often accompanied by a reduction in motor vehicle fatalities because people are out traveling the roads less in a bad economy, but last year’s reduction in the number of fatal accidents on roads came at a time when the estimated number of miles traveled by motorists increased by 0.2% over 2008 levels.  The annual highway safety report also found that:

* Motorcycle deaths broke a string of 11 years of increases, falling 16% from 5,312 motorbike accident deaths in 2008 to 4,462 in 2009

* Alcohol impaired driving deaths declined 7.4% in 2009 to 10,839 deaths due to drunk driving, compared with 11,711 in 2008.

A motorcyclist died in a crash on a Houston freeway on Saturday August 21st, 2010 at approximately 11:35pm.  Police are reporting that a group of motorcycles was traveling south in the 9700 block of the North Freeway. A 32-year old man riding a Kawasaki motorbike was riding in the back of the group when the group sped up to pass a vehicle. The man lost control and was thrown off his bike: he was transported to Memorial Hermann hospital where he died. The man was wearing a helmet at the time. Read News Channel 2’s report here.