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 29-year old woman was tragically killed Wednesday morning when she was struck by her own vehicle and thrown from a 610 West Loop overpass.

The woman’s Hyundai Tucson SUV stalled in the southbound lane of of the West Loop South at Highway 59. She put her hood up, and as she was inspecting the engine bay of her vehicle another vehicle had to swerve to avoid the Hyundai. A gray-colored Lexus IS250 traveling behind the swerving vehicle was unable to react in time and struck the back of the Hyundai, forcing it forward into the 29-year old woman. She was thrown off the side of the freeway and into an embankment, and pronounced dead at the scene. No charges are expected.

The Hyundai Tucson

The West 610 Loop overpass

Five vehicles, including a Fed-Ex 18-wheeler, were involved in a fatal crash this morning around 5:24 a.m. on southbound Interstate 45 just north of Conroe, Texas. At least one person died in the accident which shut down the freeway and had traffic backed up for nearly four miles into Willis, Texas.

Media reports: Channel 11 News Montgomery County Police Reporter

Photo credit: KHOU

Photo credit: KHOU

Joseph Valderas' Honda. Photo credit: Mont Co. Police Reporter

A young boy was tragically killed and his sister seriously injured when an 18-wheeler trucker distracted by something in his cab failed to slow down and struck the back of a family’s vehicle. The crash happened early evening, Friday April 19th on Highway 290 near Mason Road. Channel 2’s story quotes Texas DPS investigators as saying the trucker was looking down at his cell phone at the time of the collision. By the time the driver looked up he had already rear-ended a silver-colored Kia Optima sedan, driven by the boy’s 40-year old mother. Also in the car were the boy, believed to be around 9-years old, and his younger sister. The impact to the Kia was so severe the back bumper of the Kia was pushed forward to the back of the car’s front seat. The Kia was pushed forward, striking a Ford F150 pickup, which then hit a fourth vehicle, a Toyota Camry. The occupants of the other vehicles were injured and transported to hospital.

What a terrible, avoidable tragedy. This family has been forever changed due to something totally preventable: distracted driving.

Driver of the 18-wheeler

A life flight helicopter transported the mother and daughter from the Kia to Memorial Hermann Hospital; the mother is expected to survive, the daughter was taken into surgery for a skull fracture. The boy in the Kia died at the scene.

Officials inspect the silver Kia Optima

KHOU’s coverage of the accident is here.

DPS Trooper Richard Standifer is interviewed

ABC Channel 13 News’ coverage of the accident is here.

Scene of last nigh's fatal crash on Highway 290

The Houston Chronicle’s coverage is here.

The F150 pickup involved in the accident

A pedestrian was stuck and killed on Wallisville Road near Sheldon Road in northeast Harris County this morning. A photograph from KHOU’s web site shows a white-colored full-size pickup truck that appears to have skidded off the roadway.  Channel 2’s report on the same incident states the pickup driver was being detained by police (thought it does not say why).

Photo credit: KHOU

A 21-year old woman was killed early this morning in a single car accident: she crashed, was ejected from her vehicle, and the vehicle then crushed her.

Channel 2 News Houston reports the woman was heading westbound on Park Row in west Harris County around 2:30 a.m. when she failed to negotiated a curve, causing her to strike the median and then hit a tree.  Investigators believe the woman was tossed from her vehicle, and the vehicle’s momentum caused it to crush her.  Sadly, she died at the scene.  From Channel 2’s picture it appears the vehicle was a Lexus LS430,  Toyota Avalon or possibly a Nissan Maxima.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News Houston

Photo credit: KHOU

Pasadena law enforcement believe a driver was intoxicated when he ran a red light late Monday night, striking another vehicle and killing two people.  The crash happened as the man drove his pickup southbound on Allen Genoa Road around 11:00 p.m.; he disregarded the red light at the intersection of Fairmont Parkway and t-boned another vehicle.  A passenger in the t-boned vehicle died at the accident scene; the driver was transported to the hospital and died there.  The driver of the pickup was taken to the hospital.  A picture from Channel 2’s story appears to show a severely damage dark gray colored car.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News Houston

Drunk driving accident attorneys in Houston: Smith & Hassler Law Firm

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.

Channel 11 is reporting a traffic alert for a multi-vehicle accident on the southbound Gulf Freeway near Dixie Farm Road in Houston. All southbound lanes of the Gulf Freeway are blocked; the northbound lanes have all but ground to a halt because of rubbernecking. The crash happened just before 6:00 a.m.; one vehicle rolled in the crash, and Channel 11 reports its helicopter footage showed a dump truck behind a crushed vehicle that was on fire.

Photo credit: Channel 2 News Houston

A report from Channel 13 posted just before 7:00 a.m. states law enforcement has confirmed one fatality from this wreck.

Photo credit: Channel 13 News Houston