Police are investigating a one-vehicle accident in Northwest Austin early Saturday that left one man dead.

Lt. Max Johnson, a spokesman for the Austin Police Department, said that a man was driving a 2002 GMC pickup truck westbound on Anderson Mill Road between U.S. 183 and RM 620 around 2 a.m. The driver hit the south curb line, then crossed both lanes of traffic and made contact with the north curb line before the truck left the roadway and struck a sound barrier retaining wall, police said.

The driver was taken to University Medical Center at Brackenridge where he was pronounced dead shortly after the accident, Johnson said. The man’s name and age have not been released pending positive identification and notification of his relatives, according to police.

Johnson said investigators think alcohol might have been a factor in the accident. Anyone with more information about the incident is asked to call APD vehicular homicide detectives at 974-8543. Saturday’s accident is the 11th traffic fatality in Austin this year.

Source: statesman.com

An early morning car accident in downtown Brownsville left one dead and one injured.

Police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique said 41-year-old Conrado Sanchez died as a result of a head- on collision, which took place on 13th Street between Levee and St. Charles streets approximately 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The accident occurred when 17-year-old Miguel Angel Ramirez drove a Chevrolet Suburban the wrong way down 13th Street, Manrrique said.

Ramirez, who was injured and remained in intensive care, slammed into a Pontiac van driven by Sanchez, police said.

Paramedics rushed Sanchez to Valley Regional Medical Center-Brownsville; however, he died upon arrival, Manrrique said.

Two other people are believed to have been in the Suburban but fled the scene shortly after the accident, police said.

According to Manrrique, alcohol played a role in the accident. Police were waiting for Ramirez’s release from the hospital to charge him for his role in the accident.

State officials said Monday that the death of a 53-year-old mentally disabled woman residing at the Denton State School was an accident, even though the Tarrant County Medical Examiner has ruled it a homicide by assault.

Laura Albrecht, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, said Janice Campbell’s death occurred when she and another resident at the school accidentally collided.

“This was a tragic accident involving two residents,” Albrecht said.

The medical examiner’s Web site states that Campbell died Friday at a Fort Worth hospital. It says the cause of death was a closed head injury due to assault and that the manner of death was homicide.

Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office, said Campbell’s death was ruled a homicide on the basis of autopsy results and information provided by the physician who treated her injuries.

The physician did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

Anderson said the medical examiner has requested information from the state but has yet to receive it.

“It’s still an open investigation, and if there are any changes, we will amend that (homicide finding),” she said.

Campbell was taken immediately to a Fort Worth hospital by air ambulance after the incident, which occurred on March 5, Albrecht said.

The matter was investigated by the state as well as reported to Denton police, she said.

Albrecht said the collision happened when an adult male resident was running in the school’s workshop area. The resident slowed down when told to do so by a staff member but couldn’t avoid hitting Campbell, she said.

“The staff member instructed the resident to stop,” Albrecht said. “The resident did stop. But then there was (Campbell) coming into the workshop area, and, basically, they collided.”

Denton police spokesman Ryan Grelle said it is unlikely that charges will be filed. He cited the apparent accidental nature of the incident as well as the diminished mental capacity of the resident who caused it.

“It would be hard to say there was criminal intent to kill someone,” he said.

The death comes at a time when the state school system is under fire for a variety of reasons, including last week’s revelation that employees at the Corpus Christi facility organized and videotaped a “fight club” involving residents.

The state has been considering a major overhaul of the system after a Justice Department investigation last year found hundreds of cases of abuse and neglect, including as many as 53 deaths in the facilities due to potentially avoidable conditions.

Source: chron.com

Four people were injured when an Amtrak train and a semi truck collided Friday morning just south of Gainesville on County Road 218.

Three passengers suffered minor injuries and were treated at North Texas Medical Center in Gainesville. Those 3 went to the hospital on their own as a precaution.

The truck driver was taken to a Fort Worth trauma center. DPS Troopers tell us he was badly injured.

Cooke County Sheriff Mike Compton says the train was southbound when it hit the truck, which was carrying salt water.

The train’s lead engine was damaged and has since been pulled back to the Gainesville train station for repairs.

The train was carrying 184 passengers. It did not derail.

Source: kxii.com

One man was killed and four others were seriously injured in a two-car accident in northeast Houston Saturday night, authorities said.

An unidentified man was driving a Honda Accord north in the 9800 block of Beaumont Highway around 5 p.m. when a woman in a silver Toyota Tacoma pickup truck drove into oncoming traffic, said Houston Police Department Sgt. L. Lefler.

The Honda then broadsided the Toyota, causing the pickup to drive into a ditch filled with rainwater, Lefler said.

The front passenger of the Toyota was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity is pending an autopsy by the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Lefler said the female driver and three children in the pickup were taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital-The Texas Medical Center with serious injuries.

The driver of the Honda was also seriously injured and taken to Ben Taub General Hospital.

Investigators learned that a third vehicle, a silver late model “dually” pickup truck, traveling south on the road, may have made contact with the Toyota, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle, Lefler said, adding that the third vehicle fled the scene.

The case is under investigation.

No further information was immediately available.

Source: chron.com

Rock Creek Public School students were back in class Wednesday, and buses are running normally just over 24 hours after several students were injured in a school bus accident on U.S. Highway 70 East of Bokchito. First News reporter Rita Kotey looked at the laws regarding school buses stopped on busy roads.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Nabors has been a police officer for many years, but he says nothing could have prepared him for Tuesday’s bus accident. Nabors says when a call comes in, and it’s a school bus that level of urgency really arises because they know there are children involved.

Many question why the bus was stopped on a major rural highway. We thought to find out what the state law says about stopped buses.

Oklahoma State Law says buses can stop anywhere, but drivers must look for warning lights and a stop sign on the bus. Motorists must stop a safe distance behind the bus.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a city, street, or county road, or a state or a U.S. highway, but if a school bus is stopped with the lights activated, everybody is required to stop. It doesn’t matter where you are,” Nabors says.

But in Tuesday’s crash the students not only had to get off the bus on the highway, they also had to cross the road to get home.

“That’s why there is a law that allows them to stop, and they are allowed to stop. But it is everybody else’s responsibility to obey that stop,” says Nabors.

Nabors says it’s unlikely the law will change because it is a state and federal law, but he says the best way to keep children safe is for adults to follow the rules.

“There is no clear cut solution than for everybody to pay attention when they are around a school bus, especially at 3:15 to 3:20 in the afternoon. The school buses are well marked, uniformly marked and everybody in the state is uniformly in compliance with their laws on what is required by the public.”

Nabors says there is a fine of $100 to pass stopped school buses. In the case of the driver of the semi Tuesday, he has not been issued a citation or charged with any crime, but as OHP continues their investigation, they say if they issue a citation, it will be for driver inattention.

Source: kxii.com

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi could enter today’s Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament without yet another starter.

Coach Robert Robinson said center Myeisha Myles will be a game-time decision when the Islanders meet Texas-Arlington at 6, tonight at Katy’s Merrell Center. Myles was involved in a car accident Tuesday morning.

Myles was heading to meet the team bus and minutes from campus when the wreck occurred. She was given precautionary tests, but everything turned up negative. Myles went to Katy on Tuesday afternoon, but was experiencing soreness in her shoulders and neck.

A&M-Corpus Christi made the tournament’s field of eight as the eighth seed despite losing three starters during the course of the season.

Two people are in the hospital after a car accident and shooting outside city hall in the City of Gonzales. Witnesses tell us it all started as a fight between two feuding families.

Tuesday afternoon, two cars were involved in a car accident outside the city hall. Five people were injured when a fight broke out right after that crash. The fight escalated and witnesses say one man was shot, and another man was hit by a car. They were airlifted to University Hospital and are in critical condition.

News4 WOAI has learned 17-year-old Damien Navarro is one of those who is badly injured. Also injured in the fight was Navarro’s mother and two other men.

Police have 32 year-old Jaime Gloria in custody.

Witnesses tell us that police are searching for 18-year-old Danny Navarro. But Officers confirm they are searching for someone, but won’t confirm that they are looking for Navarro.

People living in Gonzales say the Gloria’s and Navarro’s have been fighting since November resulting in three different shootings including this one.

Source: kcbd.com

Five family members killed in an accident near Shallowater will be laid to rest this week.

Funeral services for Rita Gutierrez, Guadalupe Salinas, 8-year-old Fabian Sanchez, 10-year-old Xavier Sanchez, and 7-year-old Isiac Gutierrez will be held at 2:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon at the San Jose Catholic Church in Crosbyton. Rosary will be at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night.

Donations to the funeral fund can be made in the Gutierrez family’s name at any City Bank location in Lubbock.

Services for 76-year-old Jean Green will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning at the Main Street Church of Christ in Olton.

Emergency personnel in Bryan Co. responded to an accident involving a semi and a Rock Creek school bus that injured 7 people on U.S. Highway 70 East, 2 miles east of downtown Bokchito at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Six students and the adult bus driver were on board when a semi ran into the the back of the school bus as it was coming to a stop in the east-bound lane of Highway 70.

O.H.P. says that the bus had not yet come to a complete stop when it was hit, however, the flashing red lights as well as the flip-out stop sign had already been activated.

Three students seated in the back of the bus were ejected upon impact. Two of those students were flown from the scene to Parkland Hospital in Dallas by medical helicopter. They are identified as 16-year-old Jennifer Russell and 16-year-old Chase Thompson.

As of 10 p.m. Tuesday night, Russell was listed in stable condition, but at that time, Thompson was in surgery suffering from head trauma.

The third ejected student was Chase Thompson’s brother, Briar. He was originally transported to the Medical Center of Southeastern Oklahoma hospital in Durant by ambulance, but was soon thereafter flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital in Dallas. As of 10 p.m. Tuesday night he was listed in stable condition.

Also as of 10 p.m. Tuesday night, two of the other students were still under observation at M.C.S.O. after being transported there by ambulance.

The remaining student actually managed to walk to his house from the scene of the accident, and was driven to M.C.S.O. by his mother. He was treated and released shortly thereafter.

Brad McKnight is identified as the driver of the school bus, and according to the O.H.P. he was treated and released by M.C.S.O. as well. McKnight is also the head coach of the Rock Creek boys basketball team.

The driver of the 18-wheeler was not injured in the wreck, and was not transported from the scene.

O.H.P. says that the semi, including cargo, weighed approximately 70,000 lbs.

None of the students were in the process of exiting the bus when it was struck, since it had not yet come to a full stop.