2 drivers killed in high-speed wrong-way crash on I-69 Eastex Freeway near Bush Airport, HPD says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A woman, who may have been driving while intoxicated, and another driver are dead after a wrong-way crash on the US-59 Eastex Freeway near George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Thursday morning.

Traffic was at a standstill in the area for most of the morning. All northbound lanes of the Eastex Freeway were closed near Rankin Road, just north of the Sam Houston Tollway. The freeway reopened shortly before 10 a.m.

The Houston Police Department police said the double-fatal crash happened just after 4 a.m. According to HPD, a woman driving southbound in the northbound lanes struck another car head-on in the far left lane.

The wrong-way driver, who police described as a woman between 20 and 24 years old, was taken to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries. The other driver, a 22-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene.

An ABC13 ground-level news crew captured gray and white vehicles destroyed by the high-speed collision.

"I watched it go by. It's a white Cadillac. I believe it's a CTS," Mark Brawn, who was driving home from work when he saw the wrong-way driver, said. "That's not normal. So I immediately called 911."

Brawn saw the woman driving the wrong way around the Kingwood exit, several miles north of the crash, closer to Will Clayton Parkway. That means the woman likely drove in the wrong direction for at least 10 minutes.

"I just see a set of very bright headlights, and I'm like, 'Wow, that's in the fast lane.' And I saw two other cars in front of me swerve, and that's when I realize there's a car driving south on the northbound side," Brawn said.

ABC13 obtained surveillance video that shows the white car crashing into the gray sedan and then a plume of smoke going up.

Police were able to start an investigation for intoxication manslaughter before the woman died at the hospital, HPD said.

Sgt. Dionne Griffiths said signs of intoxication were found, and that was backed up by findings at the hospital.

"If people could just understand not to drink and drive, because that's probably exactly what happened here and possibly caused her to go the wrong way," Griffiths said. "Unfortunately, this situation was avoidable, and it's two young lives that are no longer here. I feel for the families that are involved and just everyone, because it's a sad situation."