Articles Tagged with Wrongful death

pexels-pixabay-263402-300x199Driving behind a slow-moving vehicle can be a real headache, especially if you’re already running behind. However, passing another vehicle on the highway is one of the most dangerous driving maneuvers a motorist takes on a daily basis. In fact, according to the most recent data from the Texas Department of Transportation, there are dozens of fatal Texas traffic accidents each year involving passing. One of the reasons why passing is so dangerous is that these accidents often involve head-on collisions.

Recently, three people were killed in a fatal traffic accident occurring just outside Winters, Texas, on State Highway 153. According to a local news report, the accident involved a Ford Edge and a Chevy Tahoe. Evidently, the Ford Edge was traveling westbound on SH-153 about six miles outside of Winters, TX. At the same time, the Chevy Tahoe was traveling eastbound. The driver of the Tahoe attempted to pass several vehicles. As the Tahoe entered the westbound lanes, it collided head-on with the Edge.

The impact from the collision caused the Ford Edge to catch fire. The driver of the Edge, as well as the passenger and a child in the back seat, were all pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Two other minors, also in the Edge, were seriously injured and transported to Hendrick Medical Center with critical and incapacitating injuries. The driver of the Tahoe also suffered severe injuries but is expected to recover.

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Last month, an accident involving a construction crane and a pick-up truck claimed the lives of two men. The accident occurred in Jefferson County on Interstate 10, near Beaumont. As is often the case in fatal Texas car accidents, news reports conveyed conflicting information in the immediate aftermath of the collision.

What is known is that two men were traveling westbound on I-10. As they approached a section of I-10 where crews were working on widening the highway, they collided with a crane. Both men were immediately killed in the collision.

Initially, reports indicated that a large commercial vehicle was towing the construction crane, which somehow became dislodged from the truck. As the crane broke free, it collided with the pick-up truck.

pexels-pixabay-263402-300x199Saturday, March 27, 2021, Mineloa, TX:  Two people died after the back tire separated from a vehicle and caused a rollover crash on Saturday in Wood County.  The driver of an SUV, Robert Guy Marino of Tyler, was pronounced deceased Monday morning.  The passenger, Cathy Marks, 64 also of Tyler died at the scene Saturday.

According to DPS, the driver of a Ford Explorer was traveling north on US 69 at around 1:20 p.m. Saturday when a back left tire came off the vehicle, causing the driver to loose control.   The Explorer traveled off the road into the eastbound ditch where is rolled over.  The driver, Marino, was not wearing a seatbelt and was transported to UT Health Tyler in serious condition where he later died.

DPS said the crash is still under investigation.

https://www.texasinjurylawyersblog.com/files/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2021-03-14-at-9.34.32-PM-300x232.pngSunday, March 14, 2021:  ABILENE, Texas — The Abilene Police Department responded to a major vehicle crash at approximately 1:05 p.m. Saturday, March 13 at US Highway 36 and Blackburn Road.  When officers arrived at the scene, they found a pickup truck and a Dodge Challenger that had both driven off the road and the Challenger was on fire.
Witnesses said the Challenger, driven by James Wells, 59 was traveling north on US Highway 36 at a high rate of speed, passing vehicles on the two-lane road.
Wells tried to pass the pickup truck driven by Mark Rodgers, 39 of Abilene near the Blackburn Road intersection. A vehicle in the oncoming lane caused Wells to try to get back in his lane but clipped the Rodgers vehicle in the rear, causing it to veer off the road and hit a tree before stopping in a field.  Rodgers was pronounced dead at the scene while his wife and three children (ages 8, 10, 11) who were also in the truck where taken to the hospital for treatment.  Their condition is unknown.  Wells was also taken to the hospital for his undisclosed injuries.

https://www.texasinjurylawyersblog.com/files/2021/02/Screen-Shot-2021-02-11-at-5.41.11-PM.pngIn the United States, wrong-way accidents can kill hundreds of people every year. These accidents can be particularly deadly when compared to other types of collisions, and account for as many as 54 percent of traffic accident-related deaths in previous years. In the event of one of these devastating accidents, if someone you love is killed because of the neglect and carelessness of another driver, you may have grounds for a personal injury or wrongful death suit for monetary damages.

According to a local news report, two San Antonio residents and four others were killed after a wrong-way accident. Evidently, two vehicles crashed into each other head-on, resulting in one driver being pronounced dead on the scene and his passenger succumbing to her injuries after being transported to a local hospital for treatment. The other victims who died were between 18 and 24 years old, and three other unidentified passengers were taken to the hospital for medical care. Following the accident, local authorities are still investigating the accident’s details.

In Texas, you may be eligible for filing a wrongful death claim on behalf of a loved one if that individual died due to a wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, or unskillfulness from the at-fault party. Car accidents that result in a wrongful death are a common claim in Texas, but not everyone is eligible to bring a claim on behalf of the deceased. If you decide to file a wrongful death lawsuit, you must either be the deceased’s surviving spouse, child, or parent. Children who are legally adopted, surviving adoptive parents, and personal representatives of the deceased’s estate can also file a wrongful death claim.

https://www.texasinjurylawyersblog.com/files/2020/12/Screen-Shot-2020-12-22-at-12.55.37-PM.pngDecember 22, 2020: ELLIS COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) — Two family members were killed, and two others were injured after a tragic December 14 crash involving a passenger van and a semi tractor-trailer.

Officials with the Milford Police Department confirm two people in the van died and two others were injured — one serious, one minor — in the afternoon crash on Interstate-35E in south Ellis County.

It was around 5:30 p.m. when police were called out on a “two vehicle major accident”. Once there officials said they quickly realized they needed help and called in more than half-dozen agencies — including DPS, Italy Police and Fire, and Ellis County Sheriff’s deputies.

pexels-pixabay-263402-300x199December 17, 2020:  A Universal City woman died on Interstate 35 on Saturday night December 12th after an SUV crashed into her parked car, sending her into incoming traffic, according to officials.

Karla Barraza, 21, was standing in front of her Volkswagen Jetta, which was disabled in the 21500 block of the southbound side of the highway in Schertz, when a Nissan Rogue crashed into it around 10:51 p.m., Schertz police said in a statement.

The collision threw her into a northbound lane, where she was hit by a passing car, according to the statement.

pexels-pixabay-263402-300x199Nov. 11, 2020, McCLAIN COUNTY, Oklahoma:  Investigators said a truck driver was driving distracted on Interstate 35 where he killed a woman and injured her husband. Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers responded to the crash on March 2, 2020, near mile marker 82 in McClain County.

A semi-truck driven by 58-year-old Johnny Spradlin was surrounded by other vehicles approaching a construction zone.  

Investigators said surrounding vehicles slowed down, but the 18-wheeler driver Spradlin did not. He crashed into a 2016 Chevy Traverse driven by 63-year-old Julia Kraus and her passenger husband around 9:30 a.m. Kraus was pronounced dead at the scene.   Kraus’ husband was injured in the crash but survived.  

https://www.texasinjurylawyersblog.com/files/2020/10/Screen-Shot-2020-10-06-at-12.50.23-PM.pngTuesday, Oct. 6, 2020:  LUBBOCK, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety released updated details Thursday evening on a deadly crash that happened just after 1:00 p.m.  Emergency crews responded to the crash along Highway 84 near County Road 7500 near the City of Slaton.

DPS reported a pickup truck with a trailer driven by Thomas Henry Erskine Jr, 18, of Templeton, California. The pickup truck was going southeast on Highway 84. DPS said a Tahoe driven by Berta Arispe, 59, of Colorado City was going northwest on the highway.

The pickup truck came upon a construction vehicle that was directing traffic over to the right lane for a construction company. The pickup truck, “took evasive action steering hard to the left to avoid other vehicles.”

https://www.texasinjurylawyersblog.com/files/2020/10/Screen-Shot-2020-10-05-at-8.36.05-PM.pngOctober 5, 2020:  The Texas Department of Public Safety has identified the victims of the September 27, 2020 head-on crash on SH 105 about a mile east of FM 2518 in Tarkington northeast of Houston.

Two of the deceased victims are from Houston while the third is from Hardin County. They are Francisco Rivera-Rosas, 33, of Houston, who was driving the black Chevrolet pickup that veered into the path of another black Chevrolet pickup driven by Timothy Gannon, 56, of Saratoga. Both drivers were killed as well as a backseat passenger in Rivera-Rosas’ vehicle – Juan Salgado, age unknown. 

Two other passengers were traveling in Rivera-Rosas’ vehicle – his 15-year-old son, who was uninjured, and 43-year-old Juan Salgado-Alvarez, 43, of Houston, who was seriously injured. Gannon’s wife, Kimberly Gannon, 57, also suffered serious injuries.

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