Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

A driver’s loss of control of his/her vehicle resulted in a single car accident on S. Brasewood at S. Rice early this morning. Police say the vehicle was heading eastbound when it left the roadway, traveled through the yards of several private homes, then crashed into a tree. The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene; police think excessive speed and alcohol were factors in causing the crash.

Update: the driver, 23-year old David Daniel Rodriguez, has reportedly been charged with a criminal offense in connection with the crash.

This morning's fatal crash

A two vehicle collision along the Beaumont Highway near the San Jacinto River killed two children last night. The victims are two boys ages 6 and 11; there were four occupants in one of the vehicle, including the two boys. The other occupants were taken by helicopter to Memorial Hermann Medical Center. Police are investigating the case of the accident according to Channel 2, but KHOU’s report on the accident states the driver of a car is at fault for leaving his lane and striking the oncoming SUV head-on.

Update: the young boys who died in the accident have been identified as Brian Figley (11) and Andrew Figley (6). Their mother Laura Figley remains hospitalized with broken arms and a broken leg. KHOU’s story explains how the boys’ father Raymond received a call that his ex wife and sons had been involved in a serious accident, and how when he asked deputies where his sons were they wouldn’t tell him. He learned the worst when he rushed to the accident scene. KHOU’s story also sheds some more light on the cause of the accident, saying 19-year old driver Lyle Buckner was attempting to pass another vehicle in a careless manner when the tragedy happened.

Accident scene

Accident scene

For the second day in a row there has been a major head-on crash on a Houston freeway caused by a wrong-way driver. The crash happened on the Eastex Freeway before Cavalcade Street around 3:00 a.m. Tuesday January 13th. The wrong way driver, a male, was heading northbound in the southbound lanes at the time of the collision. The victim was seriously injured and transported to Ben Taub. Police are investigating to determine whether alcohol was a factor, as it very frequently is in wrong-way accidents.

Scene of this morning's wrong-way accident

A major car accident on Houston North Freeway totaled several cars last night and sent a number of people to the hospital. According to KHOU’s reporter at around 11:30 p.m. a blue-colored Toyota Scion was stopped in the travel lanes, occupied by two men. An SUV approaching from behind was unable to stop in time and rear-ended the Scion. The freeway was closed down as emergency crews worked the accident, which of course caused traffic to back up and that resulted in another accident at West Mount Houston, when an SUV driver didn’t see the stopped traffic until it was too late, hitting the divider wall and several vehicles. A woman was extracted from a seriously damaged Toyota (pictured below); fortunately her injuries were not life-threatening.

A woman was cut from this Toyota by the fire dept.

Injured driver

SUV damaged in last nights chain reaction accident

Early this morning a Chevrolet Suburban left the roadway on the Southwest Freeway feeder road, hitting a metal light pole and bursting into flames. Three occupants of the vehicle died in the crash. Police say the vehicle flipped over before hitting the pole near Sands Point Drive around 1:45 a.m. It appears that excessive speed was a factor in causing the crash.

Six people were injured in a two vehicle car accident yesterday, three of them were life flighted to Memorial Hermann. The crash happened on Eldridge Parkway at Guernsey Drive, according to Channel 2, when a black-colored Nissan Murano SUV pulled out in front of another SUV occupied by three teenagers. The woman driving the Murano and two passengers were transported via life flight, the teenagers by ground ambulance.

17-year old Trent Weber, a student at Seven Lakes High School in Katy ISD, and 16-year old Terra Kubala, a 16-year old student at Cinco Ranch High School, died over the weekend when the Toyota Tundra pickup truck they were riding in rolled several times. Investigators say the 18-year old driver of the pickup was traveling on Lunda Vista Lane in Fort Bend County on Sunday morning when the wreck happened; at the time there were as many as five teenagers in the cab of the truck and 10 riding in the bed. The driver, whose name has not been released, visited the scene yesterday with his criminal defense attorney Dan Cogdell. At the scene the teen and his lawyer were confronted by Nick Grantges, Terra Kubala’s older brother.

The driver was tested for alcohol by FBCSO, but the results have not been released. Trent and Terra were apparently riding in the pickup bed.

Terra and Trent

Five Texas A&M students were hospitalized after a head on crash Sunday evening. The accident happened around 8:30 p.m. on Highway 105 near Goode City Road in Cleveland, Texas. A pickup truck veered into oncoming traffic, colliding head on with the students’ Hyundai Sonata sedan. Two of the students were in critical condition.

The A&M students' Hyundai

Smith & Hassler has four attorneys who are Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and two attorneys named to Texas Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” list for 2015.

A deputy who is an 11-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and a single father to a 10-year old son was killed in a head on crash early this morning, and the driver who caused the accident may have been impaired by drugs or alcohol. The deputy was on his way to do a welfare check and was heading eastbound on East Wallisville Road in Highlands. A Ford Explorer SUV coming from the opposite direction crossed the center line and struck the deputy’s patrol car head-on, sending it spinning into a drainage ditch. Rescue crews cut the deputy from the wrecked car and he was taken by life flight helicopter to the hospital, but was pronounced dead. The woman driving the vehicle was taken by ground ambulance. The deputy’s name has not yet been released.

UPDATE: the deceased Deputy has been identified as Jesse Valdez. The driver of the Ford Explorer has been identified as Kelly Ivey you can view her Facebook page here. Apparently Ivey was paroled from prison only a few weeks ago where she was serving time for a possession of methamphetamine charge.

Photo credit: KHOU

Deputy Jesse Valdez, HCSO and Kelly Ivey

Kelly Ivey apparently announcing her recent release from jail

A Toyota 4Runner SUV and a Ford Escape collided early Tuesday morning on FM 2920 and Meadow Hill. Precinct Four deputies told Channel 2 News that one of the vehicles attempted a u-turn when it was struck by the other. Both drivers were trapped in their vehicles and when freed were taken by life flight helicopter to Memorial Hermann. An injured passenger was taken by ground ambulance. Officials are investigating to see if alcohol played a role in the accident.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News