Two people were killed and a third was critically injured Friday night when their car flipped in Seagoville, authorities said.

The driver of the car, Christopher Marks, 25, of Seagoville, may have been racing another car around 10:30 p.m. on U.S. Highway 175 near Stark Road when he lost control and flipped his vehicle, said Kim Leach, a Dallas County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.

Mr. Marks and passengers Lloyd Driggers, 22, of Seagoville and Matthew Corker were ejected from the car, Ms. Leach said. Mr. Marks and Mr. Driggers both died at the scene, and Mr. Corker was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

Investigators were looking into whether Mr. Marks was cut off by the other car, Ms. Leach said.

A grand jury will review evidence after police say a 70-year-old driver caused a fatal rollover by making an illegal left turn in Lufkin and then just hours later drove into the back of a stopped car, setting off an eight-vehicle chain reaction pileup that left the elderly man and another person injured.

A medical advisory board will review whether Isaac Melvin Milstid of Houston should have his driver’s license revoked, authorities said, and case is also expected to go before a grand jury.

Police allege Milstid made an illegal left turn early Wednesday afternoon in Lufkin that caused a car in which five people were riding to roll, killing Bertress Allen, 75, of Gladewater.

A 5-year-old passenger was ejected onto the highway.

Lufkin police say Milstid didn’t show signs of being intoxicated or of having health problems.

But four hours later, in Diboll, police say Milstid was driving about 70 miles-per-hour when he rear-ended a car that was stopped at a red light.

That caused a chain-reaction that led to accidents involving five other cars and a tractor-trailer.

Milstid and two others were injured in the second accident.

Milstid was cited for failure to control speed in the second accident.

SANTA FE — A man who apparently was welding a cooking oil tank died Friday in an explosion outside an automotive repair shop.

The man, whose name was withheld until his family could be notified of his death, was apparently a customer of the business, authorities said. A business partner of the auto shop owners knew the victim, saying he had worked for him as a welder.

Authorities said the man was welding a sealed tank in a box truck outside Brake Stop, 12301 state Highway 6, shortly before noon.

Santa Fe Fire Chief C.T. Tommy Anderson said the tank was used to store cooking oil. Pressure from the heat likely caused the tank to rupture, and a small fire broke out. Firefighters quickly extinguished it.

Shorty and Carol Kershaw of Santa Fe said they were in the shop’s waiting room, which is enclosed by glass, while having their car inspected. They felt the concussion, which rattled the building.

“It knocked me out of my chair, and glass blew on me,” Carol Kershaw said. “Smoke filled the whole place, and they told us to leave. My husband was sitting right next to me. We were about 20 feet from the explosion.”

Shorty Kershaw said he had a headache from the shock and the hint of an acidic-type smell that enveloped the room.

Biodiesel Plans

Anderson said the shop is owned by the Cortez brothers, who were among a group of business partners who approached city officials earlier this year asking permission to build a biodiesel plant near city hall.

The group, which includes Cortez Brothers Enterprises and Jerry Fariza of Fuel and Lube Biodiesel in Richmond, plans to sell biodiesel from the automotive shop soon.

Anderson said he saw no indication that the group was producing biodiesel at the automotive shop. He said the explosion was not the result of anyone making the product.

“This accident involves the equipment but not the process, and I don’t see anything that the tank was connected to,” Anderson said.

Collecting Oil

The business uses the box truck, which was parked between the automotive store and a liquor store, to collect cooking oil. The oil is used in the production of biodiesel.

Heat from a welding torch apparently produced enough pressure in the sealed tank, which could have contained cooking oil, to cause the tank to rupture, Anderson said.

Police Chief Barry Cook said the death appears to have been an accident. “He forgot to vent the tank and paid the ultimate price for it,” Cook said.

Fariza, who arrived after the explosion, said the man was a Houston resident and had worked for him as a welder and performed other jobs.

It was unclear why the man picked up the torch and began welding, apparently without telling anyone.

“He was a good man,” Fariza said. “I understand he was getting his car worked on. He was just known to take care of things without asking.”

Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Galveston County Health District are investigating, Anderson said.

ACHILLE, Okla. — A Texas man has been killed in an ATV accident in southern Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says 30-year-old Marvin Marr of Sherman, Texas, died in the accident just after after 8:45 Sunday night.

Troopers say Marr was riding the ATV on a Bryan County road south of Achille (ACH’-uh-lee) when he ran off the roadway and hit a fence then was thrown into a tree.

A highway in Andrews County has reopened after being closed because of an accident.

Highway 181 was closed north and southbound between State Highway 115 and FM 2371 in western Andrews County after an oilfield pulling unit jackknifed in the roadway.

The highway was reopened about 1:00 p.m.

A major accident in San Antonio, Texas caused officials to close a section of Highway 90. A cement 18 wheel truck overturned at Highway 90 West near Hunt Lane around 3:30 p.m. The San Antonio Fire Department confirmed that the driver was able to get out of the truck without injury, but the truck was leaking oil.

A Texas Commission on Environmental Quality official said a TxDOT investigator was sent to the scene of the accident. The official said 2-10 gallons of oil spilled from the engine of the cement truck into a creek bed below the highway, but that the oil did not reach the creek. A contractor has been sent to clean up the spill.

Officials closed the mainlanes of westbound Highway 90 at the Loop 410 interchange.

Source: woai.com

If you are injured due to the negligence of others you need an experienced attorney on your side.  Contact The Law Office of Stephen Johnson today for your free consultation.

An accident in Houston, Texas shut down the freeway for a short period.  The accident shut down the northbound lanes of Highway 288 in Houston, Texas just after 2pm.  The accident involved 2 cars with one victim from one of the cars who died at the scene of the accident.  The victim’s name was not released.  The crash is still under investigation.

Police in Harlingen, Texas charged a woman with causing a car accident that sent an automobile into a drainage ditch and the 16-year-old driver to the hospital, an official said Tuesday.

Police charged the 30-year-old woman with failing to yield her car, a move that led to a collision that sent the teenager’s car into the water-filled ditch near the intersection of Davis and Third Street, Parrish said.

The teenager, who faces a charge of driving without a license, remained in critical condition at Valley Baptist Medical Center, he said.

At about 4 p.m. Monday, emergency crews pulled two females and a male out of the drainage ditch after the teenager’s car submerged in water, a press release said.