Five people were injured in a five-car accident shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Grape Street and Ambler Avenue that involved two stolen cars and a high-speed pursuit.

The incident is still being investigated, said Trooper Sparky Dean, Department of Public Safety spokesman.

The pursuit began on State Highway 351 near Albany when DPS Trooper Javier Perez attempted to pull over a Buick for driving recklessly, Dean said.

The Buick, traveling at “an extremely high rate of speed,” was later discovered to be stolen out of Moran, Dean said. The Abilene Police Department assisted and attempted to set up spikes, said APD Lt. Joe Tauer.

The DPS was unable to get in front of the Buick and was far enough behind that drivers of the other vehicles involved may not have been able to see or hear the sirens, Dean said.

The Buick never slowed down, Dean said. It hit a Lincoln sedan, also a stolen vehicle, which then set off a chain reaction involving three other vehicles, Tauer said. It was not clear how fast the Buick was traveling, though Dean said the speed was extremely high. By 6:30 p.m., troopers were still taking measurements and trying to determine the speed.

Tauer said none of the five people who were transported to the hospital had life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the Buick, a woman, will face charges after she is treated, Tauer said, adding that it is likely that the driver of the stolen Lincoln could also face charges. Names of those involved in the crash were not immediately available.

Police believe a drunk driver is responsible for an accident that killed a 19-year-old pregnant woman in Texas City early Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Tylara Delgado, who was seven months pregnant, was driving a 2005 Ford Taurus west on FM 1765 around 2:05 a.m. after leaving her job at a taxi cab company, Texas City Police Department Capt. Brian Goetschius said.

The driver of a 2004 Nissan Titan pickup truck, identified as Mariano O. Torres, traveling north on Texas 146 ran a red light and struck Delgado’s car from the side,  Goetschius said.

An officer who drove up only seconds after the accident found Delgado dead inside her vehicle, Goetschius said. Her unborn child also was pronounced dead.

Torres was arrested at the scene and charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter. He is in the Galveston County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Police were awaiting results of tests to determine whether he had alcohol in his system.

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KTEN has learned tragic news out of Sulphur, Oklahoma.  Long-time football coach 46-year-old Jeff Nye was killed Monday night. 

  According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Nye and his passenger were crossing railroad tracks one mile south of Roff in Pontotoc County when a train struck their Jeep.  Nye, who was ejected, was pronounced dead at the scene, and his passenger 45-year-old H.C. Rackley was taken to Valley View Hospital in Ada.    

  Nye served as a coach at Sulphur for 16 years and currently served as the offensive coordinator.  He also attended Sulphur High School as a student.

  A scholarship fund has been set up in his name at the Community Bank of Arbuckles in Sulphur. Funeral services for Nye are pending.

Four of five teenagers crammed into the cab of a pickup truck died after the 16-year-old driver lost control of the vehicle on a freeway and slammed into a concrete wall early Friday, according to authorities.

The only survivor was the driver, a male, who suffered broken bones, Houston police said. Three of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and the fourth died later at an area hospital, police said in a statement.

The identities of the victims were being withheld pending verification from the Harris County Medical Examiner’s office, police said.

The 1999 Ford F150 was heading westbound on U.S. 290 in northwest Houston when it spun out of control at 3:25 a.m., police said. The driver reportedly was attempting to enter U.S. 290 from Loop 610 when he lost control.

There were no signs of intoxication, police said.

Source: foxnews.com

A fatal traffic accident at the intersection of Giles Road and Highway 290 has blocked several eastbound lanes.  A truck and an RV collided.  The passenger of the truck died at the scene.  The driver was taken to the hospital. 

Both the driver and the passenger of the RV refused treatment. 

The collision also knocked down electrical lines.  Authorities are waiting for the power to the lines to be cut of before they can clear the scene.

Source: myfoxaustin.com

Fumes from the chemical used to de-ice a passenger somehow seeped into the cabin of an Alaska Airlines plane Wednesday at Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport sending seven to the hospital.

An airline spokeswoman said 26 people were treated for eye irritation.

Seven people, all of whom were airline employees, decided to go to a hospital for treatment, the spokeswoman said.

Two people were in critical condition, CNN reported.

Alaska Airlines Flight 528, a 737-800 with 143 passengers and 5 crewmembers on board, was being deiced before departure for Burbank when the incident occurred.

Source: kwtx.com

A fatal accident in June in which a Texas A&M University racing sailboat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico probably resulted from improper repairs to damage caused by previous groundings, U.S. Coast Guard officials announced Friday.

The sailboat Cynthia Woods capsized June 6 after its keel broke off, killing one crew member and stranding five others for 26 hours in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Coast Guard investigation found the sailboat, despite previous groundings, had not undergone any major repairs, examinations or marine surveys.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Jim Elliott said Payco Marine, a Galveston boatyard, reattached the keel early this year after the most recent grounding, but was not asked to do any other work on the boat. Investigators did not fault Payco Marine in the accident.

Additional work on the damaged area was reportedly made by students who were not specifically qualified or trained to make those repairs, according to the investigation.

“At no time did the sailboat manager who was overseeing the operation and repairs to the vessel consult with the vessel designer, manufacturer or a third party surveyor regarding this damage,” Elliot said.

The sailboat manager, Jim Atchley, was fired about a month after the accident. But Texas A&M officials said he was fired for failing to disclose his criminal history when he applied for his job, not for anything related to the sailing team. A school official said Atchley was fired for failing to reveal on his job application that he had a federal conviction related to the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s.

Atchley said Friday that after the boat came back from Payco Marine, he thought no other repair work needed to be done. He said that some students did do cosmetic work on the keel but he stressed that all repairs were done by Payco Marine.

“There was no reason to doubt Payco Marine didn’t do the repair work correctly,” he said. “They have always done repair work very satisfactorily.”

“We never did any repairs to the keel,” he said.

Investigators concluded the design and manufacture of the keel were within industry standards and guidelines, Elliott added.

The accident happened while the sailboat was competing in the Regata de Amigos, a sailing race from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico. The crew included four students and two safety officers.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued the four students and one of the safety officers early on June 8 about 27 miles off the Texas coast near Freeport. The body of the second safety officer, Roger Stone, was found that afternoon aboard the boat.

Randy Sorrels, attorney for Stone’s widow, Linda Stone, has been critical of the Coast Guard’s report, saying it was rushed and incomplete.

The Coast Guard also determined that the emergency beacon and life raft were improperly stored before the boat capsized.

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A major accident in Wichita Falls shut down a road for more than an hour. Officials just re-opened part of FM-369 Near the intersection of Kovarik road. At least four vehicles were involved in the accident, one was a trash truck. Several people are now at the hospital with injuries. No word yet on their conditions. Police deputies and DPS are on the scene investigating. We’ll continue to follow this story- stay tuned to KAUZ.COM for the latest information.

 29-year-old Port Aransas man was killed early Monday morning after his truck flipped near the intersection of Spencer’s Landing and South Station Street.

Randy Charles Baker was driving his 2004 Ford F-150 west on Spencer’s Landing about 1:30 a.m. when he lost control of the vehicle near South Station Street, Port Aransas Police Lt. Darryl Johnson said. Baker was thrown from the truck and it rolled over him, Johnson said.

He was taken to North Bay Hospital in Aransas Pass, where he was pronounced dead, Johnson said.

Investigators said Baker was traveling faster than the 30 mph speed limit and he was not wearing a seat belt.

Source: caller.com 

Hurt in an Auto Accident?

Four people, including a 14-month-old toddler, died in accidents on icy roadways as a wintry storm moved through Texas.

The freezing precipitation, which first moved in Monday night and caused long rush hour commutes for some motorists, should be gone by Wednesday as no major accumulation from light drizzle was expected Tuesday night.

North Texans will awaken to widespread, dense fog Wednesday that will dissipate as temperatures climb into the upper 40s. “Tomorrow will be a nicer day,” said Vick Corbelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

That wasn’t the case late Monday and early Tuesday when a shallow cold air mass slammed into the area, closing some schools and prompting officials to shutter a few overpasses because of treacherous driving conditions.

Authorities blamed icy roads for all four traffic fatalities.

In three of the four deadly accidents, Monday night and early Tuesday, the drivers of the vehicles were speeding on slick roads, officials said.

Juan Pablo Tapia, 20, of Fort Worth, was heading west on State Highway 121 in Haltom City when his sport utility vehicle hit a patch of unsanded ice and slammed into the guardrails around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.

His vehicle rolled over and Tapia, who was partially ejected, died at the scene, said Cody Phillips, a Haltom City police spokesman. Alcohol was also thought to be a contributing factor in Tapia’s death, Phillips said.

Domingo Juarez, 46, of Cleburne, was killed about 5:19 a.m. Tuesday when the pickup truck in which he was a passenger lost control and rolled over several times. The man was ejected onto Interstate 35W in Alvarado, about 25 miles south of Fort Worth, police said.

In East Texas on Monday night, Jeanetta Alford Davis, 63, of Karnack, was killed when an SUV in which she was riding rolled over on Interstate 20 in Van Zandt County, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The driver, Laretha Rochell Davis, 36, of Duncanville, was taken to a Tyler hospital where she remained in fair condition.

Also in East Texas, Alanna Jisha of Yantis, a 14-month old, died early Tuesday when the vehicle she was riding in ran off a bridge and into about 15 feet of water at Lake Fork in Wood County, the DPS said.

The accident occurred around 11 p.m. Monday when her father, Kent Jisha, lost control of the vehicle he was driving, DPS said. The vehicle struck guardrails, rolled over and down an embankment into the lake.

Officials said the parents escaped from the vehicle and were treated at a hospital in Quitman. Divers retrieved the toddler. Her body was sent to Dallas County Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy.

Hundreds of weather-related wrecks wreaked havoc on motorists since Monday night.

In Plano, from midnight until 3 p.m. Tuesday, 69 accidents were reported with 11 resulting in injuries.

Air traffic at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport experienced minor delays Tuesday, but all runways were open, airport spokesman Ken Capps said.