Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

A Houston Police Department officer is lucky to be alive after his patrol car was struck by a pickup truck in a major car accident on US 290 at Hollister Road. Investigators say the office was using his patrol car to block traffic while working the scene of another accident when his vehicle was struck at around 4:00 a.m. Both the police officer and the driver of the pickup truck were taken to hospital.  Channel 2 Houston’s story does not state whether the driver of the pickup was impaired, but someone hits a police car on the freeway at 4:00 a.m. in Houston, the probability of alcohol involvement is extremely high.

A Houston Fire Department Captain was injured over the weekend when his fire truck was hit by a suspected drunk driver. At 10:30 p.m. on Saturday a fire crew was on their way to a call on US 290 and was making a turn onto West 34th Street in Houston when their fire truck was hit by a pickup. The Captain was taken to the emergency room, fortunately not for life-threatening injuries. The driver who caused the accident was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The fire truck had lights and sirens operating when it was hit by the pickup truck.

25-year old James Dean “Jimmy” Burnett of Goliad, Texas died Monday May 6th when a pipe fell on him at a construction job site in Karnes County, Texas. The San-Antonio Express News reports that the accident happened at a construction site operated by BHP Billitron Petroleum. Jimmy worked for an oilfield services company called Jet Maintenance, Inc. based out of Victoria, Texas. Services are pending with Grace Funeral Home in Goliad. BHP is one of the largest operators in the Eagle Ford, with more than 330,000 acres in the region. BHP Billitron Petroleum is the Houston-based oil and gas division of the Australian mining company that purchased Petrohawk Energy Corp. in 2011. According to OSHA, there have been 11 worker deaths since 2009 due to work site accidents at the Eagle Ford.

Police arrested 29-year old Anthony Adam Garcia for allegedly driving drunk and crashing into the back of a HPD patrol car that was conducting a traffic stop (ironically on another suspected drunk driver). The three car accident happened on the I-45 feeder road near Aldine Bender at around 3:00 a.m. on Monday. The stopped police car had its lights on at the time, but Garcia apparently didn’t slow down, and obviously didn’t move over. Garcia’s vehicle flipped over in the  wreck and the impact was enough to push the police car forward into the pickup truck stopped ahead of it, shattering the back window glass of the cruiser. According to Channel 2’s report nobody was injured, including a police dog sitting in the back of the cruiser.

A motorcycle rider was injured in an accident this morning when he was hit by a wrong-way driver in the HOV lane of the Southwest Freeway (US 59) during this morning’s rush hour.  The accident happened around 8:30 a.m. at 59 and Hillcroft.  METRO officials say the wrong-way driver was elderly, and that after the motorcycle was struck by the wrong-way vehicle it then hit a third vehicle.  The motorcyclist was transported to Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston.

According to police investigators a 51-year old woman was transported to the emergency room with a possible broken leg after a hit-and-run accident in front of the Michoacan Restaurant in the 2300 block of Wirt Road in northwest Houston.  The woman and her mother were standing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant when a white SUV struck the woman and also crashed into the front of the building.  Per Channel 2’s news article, witnesses saw a Hispanic female climb into the driver’s seat while it was occupied by a Hispanic male, at which point it appears one of them hit the accelerator causing the SUV to shoot forward.  The SUV took off without stopping to provide information or render aid.  Hopefully there is surveillance footage available from the nearby businesses, though it will probably require someone coming forward to identify the hit-and-run driver or the SUV.

Local media outlets are reporting a fire at the ExxonMobil refinery in Beaumont, Texas has injured twelve workers. At around 10:30 a.m. today, Wednesday April 17^th, a fire broke out in a process unit that was down for maintenance at the time.  ExxonMobil states the fire was quickly controlled and is no longer burning. Injuries to twelve contract workers have been reported, six of those workers were transported to area hospital for medical attention. Three of the injured victims are reported as having suffered severe burns.  An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.  The contract workers are employed by Signature Industrial Services.

Local media coverage of the ExxonMobil refinery fire in Beaumont: ABC Channel 13 News, KHOU Houston, Channel 2 News Houston, FOX News Houston, Houston Chronicle.