Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

Please pray for 24-year old Houston Police Department Officer Nestor Garcia who was struck and seriously injured by an SUV last night on US 59 southbound at Dunlavy.

Officer Garcia, a rookie with less than 1-year on-the-job with HPD, was participating in a felony stop of a suspected stolen vehicle, when a white Toyota Highlander driven by a 79-year old male plowed through the scene at about 60 MPH. Officer Garcia sustained a head injury, abdominal injuries and some fractures and was listed in critical condition. The 79-year old driver was arrested and is expected to be charged with intoxication assault of a peace officer. Officer Garcia is not married; media reports say his family were with him at the hospital.

The Toyota SUV that struck Officer Garcia

Update: the 79-year old driver has been publicly identified as Robert Zimmerman. Channel 13 interviewed Zimmerman’s neighbors and business associates, who report he used to work in real estate investing and is semi-retired. Zimmerman does not have a criminal record.

Last night a Houston Police Department patrol officer had pulled over a suspected drunk driver and was conducting an investigation when the officer’s patrol car was smashed by a second suspected drunk driver. This is not a rare occurrence in Houston, and for some reason rather than emergency lights serving as a warning to drunk drivers, the lights seem to draw them in like moths to a flame. The crash happened on Houston’s North Loop (coincidentally Smith & Hassler’s office is on the North Loop). The officer and suspected drunk driver #1 were reported to be uninjured thankfully, and ABC Channel 13 has video of both drivers being sobriety tested.

If you’ve been hurt by a drunk driver, in Houston or anywhere else, give us a call and we’d be glad to explain what your legal options are.

One driver is dead and another is possibly facing failure to stop and render aid and intoxication manslaughter charges after a crash on Hiram Clarke near Orem at 2:00 this morning. KHOU reports that a gray-colored Infiniti was traveling around 80 MPH southbound on Hiram Clarke when it rear-ended a white-colored Pontiac Sunfire that may have been turning at the time. The Pontiac was struck so hard that the driver was thrown out of the vehicle through the rear window. The Infiniti traveled about a block before coming to a stop due to mechanical failure.

A METRO police officer’s foot was run over on Sunday by a DWI suspect. The incident happened on the North Freeway (Interstate 45) at the W. Little York exit. The female officer was directing traffic when a driver traveling over 60 MPH hit a plastic construction barrel. When the officer tried to stop the vehicle, the driver ran over her foot.  A brief chase followed but the driver was quickly stopped and taken into custody.  The man, who was found to be highly intoxicated, has been charged with intoxication assault. The officer was treated at Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital and is expected to recover.

The alleged drunk driver in police custody

Houston drunk driving accident personal injury attorneys – Smith & Hassler

Two men are dead after an early morning crash, and the driver of the vehicle they were riding in is facing serious charges. The wreck happened around 1:00 a.m. in the northbound lanes of the Gulf Freeway near Edgebrook. Channel 13 reports the driver lost control of the Buick before hitting a light pole and guard rail. The two male passengers died at the scene; at least one of the men was ejected from the vehicle.

Photo credit: ABC Ch 13

Friends and family are mourning the senseless loss of Omar Jaramillo, victim of a suspected drunk driver.  Mr. Jaramillo was killed when his red Corvette was struck on the driver’s side by a Chevy Trailblazer SUV driven by Craig Welch.  The wreck happened at around 12:15 a.m. Sunday morning at the intersection of FM 1960 and West Lake Houston Parkway.  Mr. Jaramillo’s mother Irene was a passenger in the Corvette; she was injured and was transported to hospital. Deputies took 23-year old Craig Welch into custody and is facing a charge of intoxication manslaughter; Welch’s bond was set at $30,000 and Harris County public records indicate he is not presently in custody.

Omar Jaramillo’s Facebook page shows a young man with many friends and a passion for cars. KHOU’s story is here.

Photo credit: KHOU

Photo credit: Facebook

Police suspect a woman driving an Audi sedan was drunk when she crashed into a HPD patrol unit on Almeda Road near Hermann Park.  The officer was traveling northbound on Almeda when the Audi came towards the police car, driving on the wrong side of the road.  The officer swerved to avoid the collision, but the vehicles still made contact. It appears from the photographs that the Audi came to rest in a ditch.

Photo credit: KHOU

Photo credit: KHOU

Houston car accident attorneys; drunk driving accident information

A suspected hit-and-run, drunk driver hit and killed a female pedestrian at Westheimer Rd. and Joel Wheaton Rd. last night. The woman was struck outside a shopping center around 9:30 p.m.; the driver fled the scene but his car broke down at Westheimer and Gentryside and he was arrested.  He will likely face a charge of intoxication manslaughter.

A man was arrested after seriously injuring a young girl with his vehicle and fleeing the scene, according to Channel 11 News. Witness Cindy Flores told reporters the man lost control of his black-colored Nissan Altima, then struck the girl who was enjoying a birthday party in a driveway of a home in the 2100 block of Floral Street in Houston. The girl was thrown up onto the hood of the vehicle, and the driver took off. The girl’s father jumped in his truck and chased the Nissan, leading police to the driver who was stopped about a half-mile away. The girl was responsive when taken to the hospital, and suffered a broken leg and a gash on her head. The girl’s age is stated as 4-years old but also 6-years old in the Channel 11 story.

RELATED LINKS: Houston personal injury attorney for drunk driving accident; Houston pedestrian accident attorney

One person was killed in an unusual series of collisions on the North 610 Loop at Ella Boulevard early Sunday morning. Two vehicles collided around 3:30 a.m. and Houston Fire Department was dispatched to respond. One of the drivers got out of his vehicle and was hit by a third vehicle heading eastbound on 610: he was pinned between two vehicles and killed. A passenger from this man’s vehicle then tried to run across the freeway to get help, and he was hit by a fourth vehicle causing a leg injury. Channel 11’s report is here.

Channel 2’s story provides a bit more detail, and a slightly different version of events. According to Channel 2, the eastbound vehicle rear-ended a black-colored Chevy Impala, which caused the Impala to spin out across the freeway and hit a Toyota. The vehicle that struck the Impala then fled the scene. The driver of the Toyota then exited his vehicle, complaining of a head injury, and lay down on the roadway. An additional vehicle, a Honda Accord, then came upon the scene and struck the man, killing him. Investigators say the Honda driver was driving drunk. Another vehicle was following the Honda, and when that driver saw his friend had been in a wreck, this man ran across the freeway trying to help and was hit by a car.

And of course, once police arrived and were handling the accident scene, another drunk driver crashed into a police patrol car.