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Dayton police were saddened by the loss of their local pastor; the reverend was killed just moments before service in a Texas parking lot crash.
On January 8, 77-year-old retired preacher Lonnie Gruver was traveling west in his Chrysler Sebring on FM 1960 when he took a left turn into the Grace Community Church parking lot. At 6:50 p.m., 76-year-old Alceuse Jackson crashed his Lexus into Reverend Gruver’s vehicle, forcing both cars along a ditch and into a light pole before skidding to a halt in the church parking lot.
Dayton Fire Department and Liberty County EMS attended to the victims, but Reverend Gruver was pronounced dead at the scene. Jackson received treatment for broken ribs at Northeast Hospital, where he was last listed in stable condition.
Police do not expect charges to be filed in the case, since Reverend Gruver is believed not to have used his left-turn signal prior to the accident.
Ten minutes before evening service, Pastor Wayne Hardin of Grace Community Baptist Church was alerted to the crash by several children. Upon discovering his friend and church member in the wreckage, Pastor Hardin immediately canceled services in lieu of an emergency prayer meeting.
The attorneys and staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom wish to extend their sincere condolences to Reverend Gruver’s family and to the community who will dearly feel his loss.
An unidentified man was killed in a Houston rollover crash this weekend when he was ejected from his vehicle in Harris County, police say.
According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the man was driving his Ford F150 pickup truck near the 2100 block of Westgreen around 3:00pm on Sunday, January 8. The pickup driver was speeding when he lost control of the vehicle and slammed into the back of a Chrysler 300.
The impact caused the truck to spin uncontrollably before rolling over multiple times, and the driver was thrown from the vehicle through a window. When the truck stopped rolling, it came to rest on top of the ejected driver and trapped the truck’s passenger.
The truck driver died at the scene of the accident as a result of multiple injuries. The passenger was extracted from his seat and was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital for treatment. Authorities say the passenger was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash, but sustained multiple injuries to the right side of his body.
The Chrysler’s occupants, a 21-year-old man and his wife, had been pushed through a residential fence by the rolling truck. They did not sustain any serious injuries.
The crash remains under investigation by the Sheriff's Office traffic enforcement section.
The attorneys and staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom would like to extend their condolences to the man’s family as we keep him in our thoughts and prayers.
A Texas resident will face charges after causing the death of a man on a motorized scooter in a fatal Houston DUI, police said.
On January 4, 56-year-old Clifford Johnson was driving a motorized scooter along West Montgomery Road while carrying his 1-year-old son in his lap. According to witnesses, Johnson rolled into the roadway around 3 p.m. because debris was blocking the sidewalk. As he crossed into the far right lane of West Montgomery at Ferguson Way, Johnson was hit from behind by an SUV and both he and the child were thrown more than 20 feet.
Johnson and his son were rushed to Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital, where Johnson died shortly after arriving. The 1-year-old was treated for minor injuries sustained in the crash.
Houston Police Sgt. R.A. Gonzales told reporters that Johnson very likely saved his son’s life by holding onto the boy tightly as they rolled after the crash. They were likely headed home when struck.
"We don't know where he was going. But, he was going in the direction of his house," Gonzales said.
The driver of the SUV, 20-year-old Wilmer Farley III, told police he didn't see the scooter. After Farley failed a field sobriety test at the scene, he was handcuffed and taken to Ben Taub General Hospital for blood testing.
Houston police reported that while Farley was not speeding in the 35-mph zone, he did appear impaired at the scene. Farley, who was on probation from a recent theft charge, has been charged with intoxication manslaughter.
The entire staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom wishes to extend their condolences to the victim’s family and friends and is praying for his child’s full and speedy recovery.
A Galveston motorcycle crash has led to a lawsuit after the bike’s passenger sustained serious injuries last year.
Krystle Durrett is seeking compensation from a Louisiana motorcycle driver after the driver "accelerated his speed at a high rate and popped a wheelie," causing an accident that resulted in the loss of her leg.
The suit, filed against Westlake, LA resident Mike A. Prudhomme, states that Durrett was riding on the back of Prudhomme’s bike on June 27, 2010 when the defendant “attempted to pass another vehicle and in the process of doing so lost control of the motorcycle, causing the motorcycle to leave the roadway.”
According to court documents, Durrett “was ejected from the motorcycle and suffered severe personal injuries, including the loss of a leg from the hip, as well as other serious injuries."
Durrett, who underwent leg amputation surgery after the accident, is seeking monetary damages and a jury trial. She believes that Prudhomme was aware of the dangers of his actions, “but nevertheless proceeded with conscious indifference to the rights, safety or welfare of others."
The suit was filed on December 5 in Galveston County District Court. County 56th District Court Judge Lonnie Cox will preside over the case.
A drunk driver failed to notice a car on the shoulder, causing a fiery Waller County car crash that killed two people.
48-year-old Katherine Ann Addison of Simonton was driving down Interstate 10 with her 12-year-old son to visit relatives in Sealy. At around 2:30 a.m., Addison had a blowout and pulled her Mercury sedan over to change the tire west of Brookshire near Peach Ridge.
According to troopers, Addison used her cell phone to tell her family that she would be late before getting out of the vehicle to fix the tire. Her son, Kendall D. Addison, Jr., remained inside.
Moments later, a Ford pickup truck struck Addison and her car, causing the car to catch fire. Addison and her son were both killed in the accident.
The truck’s driver, 23-year-old Taylor C. McShan, had been drinking with his friend Cody Parachman at a local nightclub. Parachman, the owner of the vehicle and a Katy Police Officer, allowed his friend to drive because he himself was intoxicated.
A Department of Public Safety spokesman said that McShan has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter. He received treatment for minor injuries at a local hospital before arrest.
Although he was not on duty at the time of the accident, Parachman may receive disciplinary action. Katy police officials will hold a press conference Friday morning to discuss his case.
The attorneys and staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom wish to extend their condolences to the Addison family as we keep Katherine and Kendall in our thoughts and prayers.
An elderly driver was killed in a Cleveland car accident that left his wife seriously injured, authorities say.
On January 10, 92-year-old Burnes Ray Tindle was driving out of the Salazar Tire Service shop on Washington Avenue and Waco Street with his wife in the passenger seat. As the couple pulled into the street at about 3:30 p.m., their 1996 Lincoln Town Car was t-boned by an oncoming 1997 Ford F-250 going north on Washington.
Burnes Ray Tindle died before he could be transported to a hospital. His wife, 90-year-old Dorothy Gibson Tindle, was flown to Hermann Memorial Hospital in Houston by PHI air ambulance.
The truck’s passengers included Logan Dominy of Tarkington and his wife and child. The family was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Cleveland Regional Medical Center and has since been released.
Dominy said in a statement that he was “shocked” that the Tindles’ car pulled into traffic, and said that there was no way he would have been able to avoid the accident.
Cleveland Assistant Police Chief Darrel Broussard reported Wednesday that Dorothy Gibson Tindle was now listed in stable condition. He also said that police have not issued any citations for the accident, but the case is still under investigation.
“The preliminary investigation seems to show that as Mr. Tindle exited the tire shop on Washington, he pulled into the path of the other driver’s vehicle,” said Broussard. “It does appear at this time that Mr. Tindle may have failed to yield the right of way to oncoming traffic.”
The attorneys and staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom are deeply sorry for the Tindle family’s loss and wish to extend their condolences and hopes for Mrs. Tindle’s speedy recovery.
Although 79 vehicles were involved in a massive Port Arthur car accident, only four injuries—and zero fatalities—were reported, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's Office Deputy Rod Carroll said that the three people who were critically injured in the crash itself and the additional victim who suffered a heart attack were all expected to make a full recovery.
Limited visibility was the underlying cause of the accident. Smoke from nearby wildfires mixed with heavy fog on the morning of January 5 set off a string of collisions in the eastbound lanes of Texas 73. By 6 a.m., 22 separate crashes had been reported west of the Taylor Bayou Bridge, including two cars that had caught fire.
Department of Transportation spokesman Marc Shepherd commented on the scale of the accident, stating "This is the first time in 80 years that we've had a situation to this degree.”
Troopers Candace Evans and David Crawford said that eastbound traffic was moving at about 70 mph before the accident despite the adverse weather conditions; westbound drivers were moving more slowly.
Eighteen people received citations, including driving under a suspended license and speeding.
Fifty-four people were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Carroll said Thursday that many people chose to stay in their vehicles after the accident, a major reason no one was killed in the crashes.
The roadway, which has been open for nearly 90 years, was lined with flashing warning signs Thursday night to increase visibility and prevent similar accidents. Patrols by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office will also be doubled as a precaution.
The bodies of three young men, all former students at University of Texas, have been recovered after they were killed in a car crash in Irving on January 4.
The investigation began on Wednesday afternoon when a maintenance crew reported a broken guard rail in a canal in Irving. When a dive team from the fire department entered the canal at West Northwest Highway near Riverside Drive, they found a 2010 Porsche Panamera under the water with the body of a man and a woman still inside.
41-year-old Ronald Eddins and 21-year-old Kaat Paula Debeuckelaer were seated in the front seats of the vehicle with their seatbelts fastened.
Shortly after the vehicle was pulled from the canal, divers were told that there might have been a third person traveling in the car. The dive team went down again the following day and recovered the remaining victim, 23-year-old Kenneth Joseph Lark.
Officer John Argumaniz of the Irving Police Department said that police believe that Lark and Debeuckelaer were in Dallas for a hockey game on the night of January 3. They were seen after the game at a hotel bar in Southlake, where witnesses saw them talking with a man believed to be Eddins, a Dallas-area lawyer.
Police believe that the couple had never met Eddins before that night, but the three left the bar together around 1 a.m. Wednesday. They were seen at a Dallas strip club, where they remained until around 3 a.m. Shortly afterward, witnesses who lived near the crash site reported a loud noise. Toxicology results are still pending, but police believe speed was likely a factor in the crash.
A spokeswoman for the University of Texas has informed the media that Lark was a former UT student, Debeuckelaer was currently enrolled, and that Eddins was a UT graduate.
The attorneys and staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom wish to extend their deepest condolences to the families of the victims as we keep them in our thought and prayers.
A woman is seeking damages after a crash with a drunk driver in Galveston left her with serious injuries.
According to court documents, Konnie Schutz was driving her 2008 Honda north on 45th Street in Galveston when she ran a red light. She then struck the front driver's side of Melanie Szabo’s 2005 Toyota Camry, the suit says. The accident occurred around 10:30 p.m. on the evening of July 9, 2011.
Szabo, of Houston, filed the suit against Schutz on December 6 of last year in Galveston County Court at Law No. 2.
Documents in the case state that the police officer who responded to the accident found Schutz “heavily intoxicated” at the scene. He also commented that, in addition to driving under the influence of alcohol, Schutz appeared to be "completely at fault for the wreck."
Schutz was arrested at the scene and was charged with driving while intoxicated. Upon processing, police discovered that the arrest marked the second time in two years she had been charged with drunk driving.
Among other complaints, Schutz will answer to charges of “not keeping a proper lookout” and gross negligence, as the suit alleges that Schutz “was aware of her intoxicated state and chose to drive.”
Szabo is seeking damages for her vehicle, which she says was totaled in the crash, as well as injuries sustained to her back, neck and shoulder. She is requesting $150,000 for injury costs and property damages.
It is unknown whether Schutz suffered injuries in the crash.
Judge Barbara Roberts of Galveston County Court at Law No. 2 will hear the case.
A Liberty County car-train accident has left a young man dead and another seriously injured, police reported Friday.
About 4 p.m. on January 13, 16-year-old William Hotaling was riding as a passenger in a 2004 Ford Sport Trac truck on FM 1909 in Raywood. The driver, 20-year-old John Kolin Allison, was traveling westbound toward the railroad crossing near Highway 90 when the signal lights began flashing and the train crossing arms came down.
Local law enforcement officials believe Allison may have been trying to beat the train by driving around the crossing arms. The train, which was traveling at around 40 miles per hour, hit the pickup on its side and pushed it nearly a quarter of a mile before coming to a halt. Hotaling died on impact.
Allison sustained serious injuries in the crash and was taken by air ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston for treatment. His condition is believed to be critical.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Delvin Davis was able to verify that the crossing arms were down and lights were flashing when the accident occurred.
“It appears that the driver disregarded those warnings and attempted to cross over the tracks,” said Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Captain Rex Evans.
DPS Trooper Chris Richmond will lead the investigation into the crash. Although the police are still evaluating the scene, they do not have any evidence that Allison was intoxicated.
The attorneys and staff at Vujasinovic & Beckcom are keeping the Hotaling family in our thoughts and prayers, and we offer our deepest condolences the young victim’s friends.