Houston Personal Injury Attorneys – Smith & Hassler

34-year old Maria Guadalupe Udave is currently in Harris County Jail, charged with intoxication manslaughter after a collision on Laura Koppe Road in Houston late Friday night. KHOU News Houston reports that Udave was driving her Nissan Armada SUV westbound on Laura Koppe while the victim, identified in documents filed with the Harris County District Clerk as Sheila Lovings, was heading eastbound on Laura Koppe. Udave, apparently arguing with a male passenger in her vehicle, swerved into the eastbound lanes crashing head-on into the victim’s Toyota Camry. Udave’s male passenger fled the scene of the accident, and Udave was taken to Memorial Hermann Northwest for medical treatment and a mandatory blood draw.

A young boy was tragically killed and his sister seriously injured when an 18-wheeler trucker distracted by something in his cab failed to slow down and struck the back of a family’s vehicle. The crash happened early evening, Friday April 19th on Highway 290 near Mason Road. Channel 2’s story quotes Texas DPS investigators as saying the trucker was looking down at his cell phone at the time of the collision. By the time the driver looked up he had already rear-ended a silver-colored Kia Optima sedan, driven by the boy’s 40-year old mother. Also in the car were the boy, believed to be around 9-years old, and his younger sister. The impact to the Kia was so severe the back bumper of the Kia was pushed forward to the back of the car’s front seat. The Kia was pushed forward, striking a Ford F150 pickup, which then hit a fourth vehicle, a Toyota Camry. The occupants of the other vehicles were injured and transported to hospital.

What a terrible, avoidable tragedy. This family has been forever changed due to something totally preventable: distracted driving.

A life flight helicopter transported the mother and daughter from the Kia to Memorial Hermann Hospital; the mother is expected to survive, the daughter was taken into surgery for a skull fracture. The boy in the Kia died at the scene.

KHOU’s coverage of the accident is here.

ABC Channel 13 News’ coverage of the accident is here.

The Houston Chronicle’s coverage is here.