2 killed, innocent woman injured in wrong-way crash on SH-288
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Two people died Wednesday, and an innocent woman was hurt in a wrong-way crash on SH-288 on Houston's southside overnight.
The crash happened around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on the SH-288 toll road southbound near Holly Hall.
The fatalities were the first on the new tollway since it opened in November.
On Wednesday, a SH-288 spokesperson told ABC13 they'll review toll road cameras to see if they can figure out where the wrong-way driver got on, but they'll have to wait until the police investigation is complete.
"From everything I know, this is the first wrong-way crash on this new tollway," Sean Teare with the Harris County District Attorney's Office said. "We have to look at a number of things of how this happened and why this happened."
Investigators are asking for prayers for the innocent woman who was hit by the wrong-way driver.
She was driving in the southbound lanes of the toll road at the time of the crash.
According to HPD, the woman is alive and at the hospital, and miraculously was able to call 911 herself after the crash and tell them she was trapped inside of her car.
Police say she sustained very bad leg injuries and had to be cut out of her vehicle.
Police were alerted of the wrong-way driver shortly before the crash happened, and officers quickly moved to try and locate the car. Unfortunately, they were not able to find the car before the deadly crash.
The 21-year-old woman driver and her 25-year-old passenger were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities were pending, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
"We suspect alcohol played a pretty significant role in this crash. We won't know if drugs or illicit drugs or prescription drugs contributed to it until we get autopsy results back," Teare said. "At this point, we believe alcohol was a contributing factor, if not the main factor, in this wrong-way crash."
SH-288 was closed as investigators surveyed the scene, but has since reopened.
