Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

Smith & Hassler previously reported on the tragic accident in North Houston on Friday July 15 involving a Houston Yellow Cab taxi colliding with the rear of a stopped 18-wheeler. The driver of the Yellow Cab has since been charged with criminally negligent homicide in connection with the deaths of his two passengers, Sandra Smart (aged 56) and Dorothy Britton (aged 84). The driver of the taxi cab, 56-year old David Houston, reportedly suffered minor injuries in the collision, which happened around 5:00pm on the Eastex Freeway near Laura Koppe road.

Reportedly Houston was driving the Yellow Cab minivan way too fast for the road conditions immediately before the collision occurred, and was weaving in and out of traffic according to witnesses. METRO police department is assisting with the investigation of the deadly wreck, as both Sandra Smart and Dorothy Britton were METROLift patrons and were being transported home after receiving dialysis services as part of a contract between Yellow Cab and METROLift to provide such services. Houston posted $100,000 bail and was out of jail as of Saturday.

Although Yellow Cab owned the vehicle Houston was driving, they will likely take the position that Houston himself was an independent contractor of Yellow Cab and not an employee. Yellow Cab’s career page states it is seeking drivers with a “great driving record.” METROLift’s web site states that: “It is important to us that patrons know METROLift is a shared-ride public transit service, not a taxicab service.”

Our sincere sympathies to the friends and families of Sandra Smart and Dorothy Britton on their loss.

This yellow cab rear-ended a big rig on the Eastex Freeway July 15 2011 killing two passengers

Channel 13 Eyewitness News is reporting a deadly crash on the Eastex Freeway near Laura Koppe. A Yellow Cab minivan crashed into the rear of a big rig tanker truck when, according to witnesses, the yellow cab driver was traveling at a high rate of speed and weaving in and out of traffic. Two elderly women were riding as passengers in the taxi – one was pronounced dead at the scene, the other passenger was transported to the hospital and died there. The taxi driver’s condition wasn’t reported, but police say if he survives he will face a charge of criminally negligent homicide.

2 People Dead in Crash on Eastex Freeway: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

The driver of the Ford Explorer above was killed in a collision on West Road caused by a suspected drunk driver

Drunk driving appears to have claimed yet another life on Houston’s roads after a man was killed in a wreck on West Road early morning, Sunday July 10, 2011. A pickup truck driven by a man speeding on West Road around 2:15am ran a red light and smashed into the side of a Ford Explorer that was making a left turn onto Deer Trail. Sadly the Explorer driver died at the scene and his female passenger was taken to the hospital. The driver of the speeding pickup was taken to hospital in serious condition: deputies say the man appeared to be intoxicated and he may face intoxication manslaughter charges if his blood sample indicates he was legally drunk. ABC News’ story is here.

If you or a loved on have been victimized in an automobile accident, motorcycle accident, pedestrian accident, bicycle accident or truck accident caused by a drunk driver, call the experienced Houston personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler for a free consultation. The earlier in your case you call, the better: theinsurance company will want you to settle for a small amount as early as possible and have you sign a release. This will limit the insurance company’s liability and prevent them from having to pay more later. Smith & Hassler’s personal injury attorneys have aggressively represented injured people in the Houston area and throughout Texas for more than 20-years, including bereaved family members bringing wrongful death lawsuits.

A very sad day today for the Beaumont, Texas police department who lost one of their officer last night to a motor vehicle collision with a fleeing suspect. Beaumont P.D. Officer Bryan Mitchell Hebert, aged-36, was getting stop-sticks from the trunk of his patrol car last night when the 30-year old suspect, whose name has not been released, crashed a 2008 Dodge Nitro into the front of Officer Hebert’s patrol car pushing it backward into the officer. Officer Hebert had been with the Beaumont Police Department for 10-years; he passed away at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital. Police say the suspect had assaulted his elderly grandmother and mother prior to the crash. The suspect will be facing a capital murder charge and if convicted may receive the death penalty. Beaumont P.D.’s press release is here. The last officer from Beaumont P.D. who was killed in the line of duty was patrol officer Lisa Beaulieu, killed by a drunk driver April 27, 2007 while directing traffic at the scene of a freeway accident.

Police were able to quickly identify the year, make and model of a hit-and-run vehicle that struck and killed a female pedestrian trying to cross FM1960 near Aldine Westfield Road around 3:00am Friday July 8, 2011. 52-year old Rosie Mitchell of New Waverly, Texas was struck by a 2008 Nissan Armada that sustained damage to the SUV’s passenger side headlight, which broke off in the collision. Rose was found in cardiac arrest in the roadway and passed away at the scene. Harris County Precinct 4 Constables investigators are working with a Nissan dealership and using part numbers to identify the owner of the vehicle involved and are also checking area businesses to see if the collision was caught on any surveillance cameras.

Click2Houston.com’s report is here and includes video. While Nissan is a popular manufacturer and there are a lot of Nissan vehicles on Houston’s roads, the Nissan Armada doesn’t appear to be a particularly big seller as compared to other full-size SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban or the Ford Expedition. Put another way, there’s not many Nissan Armadas on the road so this one could be easy to spot. Everyone should be on the lookout for a Nissan Armada with damage to the passenger side headlight: if you think you have identified a vehicle matching that description you can call Crime Stoppers at 713 222 TIPS.

With the vehicle owner not yet being identified it is unknown if alcohol was involved, but given that the accident was at 3:00am on a Friday, and that it would be next to impossible for a sober driver to be involved in this accident and not know it had happened, it certainly looks like drunk driving may have played a role.  Either way, any decent person with nothing to hide wouldn’t run down a pedestrian and flee.

A 2008 Nissan Armada - the make and model of vehicle that sustained a broken front passenger side headlight in the hit-and-run collision that killed Rosie Mitchell.

Our sympathies to Rosie Mitchell’s family and friends for this tragic loss. If you, a friend or a family member have been the victim of a motor vehicle accident, Smith & Hassler can help you.

Click2Houston.com is reporting a fatal collision on State Highway 6 near Lake Shore Boulevard between a car and a backhoe carrying a load of rebar in an area that was under construction. Missouri City Police indicate the wreck happened around 8:15am Tuesday June 28th. Both vehicles were traveling in the same direction at the time of the wreck and investigators are working to determine which driver had which lane. Under consideration is whether the rebar load extended too far from the backhoe or if the driver changed lanes too quickly. The driver of the car died at the scene. The construction company operating the backhoe was not identified in the article. Typically when an accident involves a fatality and there is a question as to how the accident happened and who is responsible, the law enforcement agency investigating will conduct a full-blown accident investigation, probably performed by a specially trained accident reconstructionist.

Three separate accidents involving a total of 8 vehicles occurred one after the other on I-45 near Cavalcade and police believe alcohol to be a factor in two of those accidents. The first car involved two cars: nobody was hurt in that crash. Investigators had stopped traffic to investigate the first crash when a GMC failed to stop (believed to be stolen), crashing into two other cars and then a police car. The only injury was to the Yukon driver, who police believe was intoxicated at the time.

The last accident happened at the top of an overpass near Patton: 25-year old Christopher Trumpower, driving a black Jaguar, came up the hill and did not see the two cars stopped at the top of the hill. Police believe Trumpower tried to swerve around the vehicles at the last minute, but the passenger side of his Jaguar struck the rear of a silver-colored Lincoln MKX SUV. Tragically the passenger riding in Trumpower’s Jaguar was killed and Trumpower was taken to hospital with non life threatening injuries: he has been charged with intoxication manslaughter. A female passenger riding in the Lincoln was taken to hospital in extremely serious condition. Police found two open liquor bottles in the Jaguar.

Read Click2Houston.com’s report here. Video from the scene of the collision is here. KHOU’s report is here.

This Lincoln MKX sustained massive rear-end damage when struck by Christopher Trumpower's Jaguar

At 2:30am on Saturday a speeding Corvette left the roadway on NASA Road 1 and slammed into the wall of a home. Alcohol and speed are thought to have contributed to the collision: reports indicate the driver of the Corvette was racing a motorcycle and may have been traveling at or about 100MPH when he wrecked. A female passenger riding in the Corvette died at the accident scene, her identity has not been released.

This silver Corvette convertible crashed into a home on NASA Road 1 in Pasadena killing the female passenger

If you have lost a loved one due to another’s negligence, call the experienced personal injury attorneys at Smith & Hassler who have successfully handled a great many wrongful death cases for Houston families.

2 children died riding in this Suburban carrying 16 people after an intersection collision. Centerpoint Energy cut power to the traffic signal before the wreck.

8 month old Laura Abrego and 3 year old Valeria Mendoza were killed in intersection collision in Harris County when the Suburban they were riding in collided with a Chevrolet pickup truck, causing the two children to be thrown from the Suburban. The Suburban was driven by 27-year old Brenda Mendoza and a total of 16 people occupied the Suburban at the time, 12 of them were children. The Suburban was headed northbound on the Beltway 8 feeder road when the collision happened with the Chevrolet pickup that was heading eastbound on Garrett.

Two other children in the Suburban had to be flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital. No charges were pending against either driver for the accident. Deputies reported that the traffic lights were out at the intersection at the time of the deadly crash. Investigators said CenterPoint Energy was doing work in the area and cut power to the intersection’s traffic lights at 12:37PM Sunday: the collision had occurred by 1:40PM, within an hour of the power being cut. When KPRC Local 2 contacted CenterPoint about the incident, officials said they were looking into it. News Channel 2’s story is online here.

If you have questions about how to handle your automobile accident you can speak to a personal injury attorney at Smith & Hassler for a no cost consultation. Just give our office a call or submit your case through our web site at www.smithandhassler.com

Houston Police Department is mourning the loss of one its officers after a fatal drunk driving collision on Houston’s North Loop early Sunday May 29, 2011.  Officer Kevin Will was investigating a motor vehicle accident on the 610 Loop near Yale when he was struck and killed by a vehicle driven by 26-year old Johoan Rodriguez. Rodriguez is in jail and has been charged with intoxication manslaughter of a police officer, evading arrest and possession of a controlled substance. Every loss of life due to drunk driving is a tragedy, but especially so when the victim has a family: Officer Kevin Will is married with two children ages six and ten and his wife is six months pregnant with the couple’s third child.

Officer Will joined HPD in 2009 and had been with the vehicular crime unit for almost a year. At the time of the crash Officer Will was interviewing a witness to a hit-and-run accident when Rodriguez’ Volkswagen came around a barricade and hit Officer Will at around 3:15am. Officer Will yelled to the witness when the vehicle was looming: the witness jumped over the concrete barrier dividing the freeway and the witness said he heard the impact before he even reached the ground.

Our prayers are with Officer’s Will’s widow, his children and his colleagues. It is hard to imagine the heart-breaking task of explaining to Officer Wills’ children that their father will not be coming home. The Houston 100 Club frequently seeks donations after the on-duty death of a police officer or fireman: please consider making a donation to help Officer Wills’ family.

The Houston Chronicle’s story is here. News Channel 2’s story is here. Fox News’ story is here. Channel 13 Eyewitness News’ story is here. KHOU’s story is here.

HPD Officer Kevin Will, killed by a drunk driver on Houston's North 610 Loop. Officer Will has two young children, his wife is pregnant with their third child.