Author Archive

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Jennifer Nicole Molina charged in drunk driving death of Evelyn Galindo

20
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Drunk driving accidents Wrongful death

21-year old Jennifer Nicole Molina is charged with intoxication manslaughter after a Sunday morning car accident that left Evelyn Galindo dead. Galindo was driving a Honda Civic and was rear-ended by a Nissan Versa around 3:20 a.m. at the 10100 block of the North Freeway feeder road just south of West Road. The Honda Civic then slammed into a concrete pillar. Molina’s Versa crashed through a chain link fence and stopped in a parking lot, police said. Galindo was taken to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead. Molina called a relative who came to the accident scene and picked her up, leaving her car in the parking lot, but the relative talked Molina into returning to the scene: she was given a sobriety test and had blood drawn, police said.
According to what appears to be Jennifer Nicole Molina’s Facebook page, Molina is a 2010 graduate of Klein Forest High School and is studying at Lone Star College. Channel 11’s story is here.

Black Elk Energy West Delta 32 rig explosion – workers injured and killed

18
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Work injuries Wrongful death

A fire at Black Elk Energy‘s West Delta 32 rig in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday killed one worker, another worker is missing and many others were burned and injured.
John Hoffman, CEO of Houston-based Black Elk Energy, said in an email Saturday evening that a contracted dive vessel had recovered the body of one missing worker and the search for a second worker remains underway. Two workers remain in critical condition at Baton Rouge General Hospital‘s Burn Center. On Friday, the day of the incident, a spokesperson with West Jefferson Medical Center, where injured workers were taken initially, said four workers had suffered second and third degree burns over a large portion of their bodies. The men were later transported to Baton Rouge General.
At a Saturday press conference, a hospital official said the four burned workers are from the Philippines, which has made notifying family a challenge. 11 workers in total were air-lifted to Louisiana for medical attention, and the remaining seven workers were treated by paramedics near the shore of Grand Isle, LA and then released. At a press conference at noon on Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard said a total of 22 workers were on the West Delta 32 platform at the time of the explosion.
Hoffman said that the men working the rig, which produces oil and natural gas, are not employees of Black Elk Energy, but instead are contractors. A story posted to Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s web site identifies the contractor that employed the workers as Grand Isle Shipyard. Black Elk Energy’s home page includes a link to a status update on the incident. Grand Isle Shipyard is currently facing a lawsuit (unrelated to Friday’s explosion) from a group of former workers from The Philippines claiming they were forced to work in cramped condition for long hours for substandard pay: the lawsuit, filed in late 2011 in federal court in Louisiana, is pending.
What caused the fire? A KHOU news story states that at the time of the fire, workers were cutting a 75 foot length of 3″ diameter pipe that contained as much as 75 gallons of product, according to CEO Hoffman. This process calls for a cold cutting device, a tool that does not spark, however Hoffman confirmed a cutting torch was used instead, causing the product inside the pipe to ignite. The platform was not in production at the time of the fire and appears to be structurally sound, but the Coast Guard says there is a half-mile by 200-yard sheen coming from the platform.
Previous accidents involving Black Elk Energy: In August a crane was lowering two workers into a basket when there was an equipment failure, according to Federal records. The two workers in the basket fell into the Gulf, but were not seriously injured. In February 2011, a small fire broke out on a Black Elk Energy platform: a battery charger was blamed for that incident. In September 2011, Black Elk Energy paid a $307,000 fine for failure to do a leak test on a safety valve, and it took them 117 days to fix the problem once it was identified.

Injured workers’ rights:  Depending on the facts and circumstances, persons injured at work may be entitled to recover damages from their employer and/or third parties responsible for the incident that injured them. Injured workers should seek competent legal advice as soon as possible to ensure their rights and protected, and absolutely should avoid signing any documents that may affect their legal rights. Contact Smith & Hassler.

UPS truck collides with SUV on FM 529 – one person killed

16
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Auto Accident Wrongful death

A person was killed in a collision between a UPS truck and a passenger SUV yesterday. The silver-colored SUV and UPS truck crashed around 4:00 p.m. on FM 529 near Jackrabbit Road in northwest Harris County. The name of the person who died has not yet been released. The SUV rolled over in the crash: detective say it appears on of the drivers tried to turn and was hit by the other driver. A photograph from Channel 2’s web site (see below) appears to show passenger side front corner damage to the UPS truck.

Lourdes Lopez accident on Fry Road: 4 children critically hurt

12
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Drunk driving accidents

A two vehicle accident in the early hours of Sunday morning critically injured four children, and the woman driving their car, Lourdes Lopez, is suspected of driving drunk. The Jeep Liberty carrying the children collided with a Dodge Ram dually pickup truck at the intersection of Fry Road and the Interstate 10 feeder road in west Houston. Police say 22-year old Lopez was driving northbound on Fry Road when she ran a red light and the eastbound pickup truck t-boned the driver’s side of the Jeep. The four children are ages 1 through 12. One of the children was ejected from the Jeep. Lopez and a 45-year old man in the front seat of the Jeep were treated for non-life threatening injuries. According to a Channel 11 story, police said tests confirmed Lopez was intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Girlfriend dies when thrown from Jeep trying to stop boyfriend from driving drunk

11
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Drunk driving accidents

A 27-year old woman was killed in Spring early Saturday morning when she fell from the hood of her boyfriend’s Jeep as she attempted to stop him driving drunk. The woman was found laying in the street in the 22600 block of Spring Crossing around 3:30 a.m. Life Flight rushed her to Memorial Hermann, but she did not survive. Neighbor reported hearing the woman begging Jeremy Stanford not to drive because he had been drinking, however Stanford took off in his Jeep with her clinging to the hood. She fell off sustaining a head injury. Jeremy Stanford has been arrested and charged with felony DWI. Prosecutors will evaluate whether those charges are increased to intoxication manslaughter. What appears to be Stanford’s Facebook page features a late model silver 4-door Jeep KHOU’s story is here.

8th grader hit by car at Timberwood Middle School

9
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Pedestrian accidents

An 8th grader was struck by a car today as he walked to school.  The auto-pedestrian accident happened around 7:45 a.m. as the vehicle was making a left turn in front of Timberwood Middle School in Humble, Texas. The boy suffered a possible broken leg and some bruises, and he was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital.  The driver remained at the scene. Channel 2’s report is here. Hopefully the young man will make a full recovery. No word on whether the driver was cited for the accident.

Several burned in explosion at AmeriGas facility in Conroe

6
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Plant explosion

An explosion at the AmeriGas Cylinder Exchange facility in Conroe, Texas injured several people today.  The blast happened around noon at the AmeriGas facility at 10985 FM 1485 in Montgomery County, Texas. Two victims of the explosion were flown to area burn centers via medical helicopter. Montgomery County Fire Marshal’s are investigating and the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the propane industry, was also notified. Channel 13 story here.

Driver charged in fatal motorcycle accident involving deputy sheriff’s dad

5
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Drunk driving accidents Motorcycle Accidents Wrongful death

75-year old Neil Smith has been charged with intoxication manslaughter in connection with the death of 54-year old Danny Hunt.  On Saturday November 3rd Danny Hunt and his son Chase Hunt, an off-duty Galveston County Deputy Sheriff, were riding their motorcycles on Highway 6 near FM 2004 it Hitchcock, Texas around 1:00 a.m. Investigators say that at some point Chase’s baseball cap fell off so the men pulled to the side of the road and chase went to retrieve his hat.  At that point Neil Smith’s Ford SUV struck Danny Hunt. Smith continued driving for about a half mile until damage to the SUV forced him to stop.  Danny Hunt was pronounced dead at the scene. Channel 2’s story is here. Galveston Daily News story here. This weekend marked the conclusion of the Lone Star Rally in Galveston, a motorcycle rally that drew 500,000 people to Galveston Island. According to initial police reports, 19 people were charged with drunken driving, including Neil Smith.

Deputies hit head-on by Chevy pickup on Highway 6 at Little York

3
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Auto Accident Drunk driving accidents

Two Harris County Deputies and a person they were providing courtesy transportation were hit head on in a car accident last night at Little York and Highway 6. Two patrol vehicles were stopped at a light in a turn lane facing northbound on Highway 6. A full-size Chevy pickup truck heading southbound on Highway 6 crashed into the front of the first patrol vehicle, pushing it backwards into the second patrol unit. Apparently this was a major impact: one of the patrol units was pushed back 28 feet from the point of impact.
 
The driver of the pickup truck was a 16-year old male that police believe was driving under the influence of synthetic marijuana. He will be given a mandatory blood draw at the hospital. With him in the vehicle was another person who allegedly asked the 16-year old to drive because the passenger was too intoxicated. Another passenger was a female runaway whose parents came to collect her. The deputy sheriff in the first vehicle hit was transported to hospital with a wrist injury (probably from the airbag) and bruising. ABC Channel 13’s story is here, and includes video.
 
If the 16-year old was unlicensed and/or intoxicated at the time of the crash, the passenger who asked the 16-year old to drive would probably be liable to the injured deputy for what is called negligent entrustment. That is when a person knowingly entrusts their vehicle to a person who is an unlicensed, incompetent or reckless driver, and the negligence of the person entrusted with the vehicle results in injury to a third party.

Trick or treaters hit by SUV on Sweetwater and Saddle Rock

1
Nov 2012
By:

Tags:
Categories: Pedestrian accidents

A boy and a girl out trick or treating last night were struck and injured by an SUV as they crossed Saddle Rock Drive near Sweetwater in a north Houston neighborhood. Witnesses say the boy who was struck was thrown up in the air by the impact. Neighbors say the girl was transported to the hospital by ground ambulance and the boy via life flight. Neighbor Cory Samuel, interviewed by Channel 11 News, said he saw the boy go up into the air, then when the boy came down it was like the SUV driver was unable to stop. Channel 2’s report indicates the driver’s SUV was towed away after the accident: that indicates (but doesn’t guarantee) that the driver had no license or no insurance, but maybe she was just too shaken up to drive.

Newer Entries »