Woman killed in crash with drunk wrong-way driver on Eastex Freeway, HCSO says
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- One person is dead, and another person is injured after an accident on the northbound Eastex Freeway at East Mount Houston, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.
The driver of a white Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck is accused of driving while intoxicated in the wrong direction on the northbound lanes of the freeway.
According to HCSO, the driver was three times the legal limit and drove about 2 miles in the wrong direction before hitting a Honda Accord and killing the driver at approximately 1:47 a.m. Saturday.
"The issue is intoxicated drivers. They have difficulty staying on the road, speed, maintaining lane, and run into people," Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Sergeant Ben Troy said. "Our wrong-way drivers are usually intoxicated. We have wrong-way drivers relatively frequently."
ABC13 spoke with the victim's boyfriend, who said he was on the phone with her at the time of the accident.
"It was quick. One minute she was talking to me and the next it was like the phone just dropped, but the phone was still running. It was instant," Seth Carreon said.
Carreon also shared with ABC13 how he's choosing to remember her.
"A woman with a bright future. She was a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend. She was loved by many. She was changing her life on a good path. She took care of her family; she took care of me, and it's sad something this tragic had to happen to an angel like her," Carreon said.
Investigators shut down the northbound lanes of the Eastex Freeway to process the scene and launch their investigation before reopening the freeway around 7 a.m.
"Completing the tox investigation, of course, and presenting it to a reconstructionist and then presenting everything that we have to the District Attorney's office to proceed with the prosecution," Sgt. Troyer said.
