A suspected drunken driver traveling the wrong way on Central Expressway caused a head-on, chain-reaction crash that left one person dead late Wednesday night, police say.
According to police, 23-year-old Angie Gomez was driving northbound in the southbound left lane of U.S. 75 when she collided with a vehicle south of Lovers Lane at about 11:35 p.m.
The impact pushed the victim's vehicle into another lane where it was struck by another driver.
The victim in the initial crash was identified as Keunta Ray, 25, was killed at the scene. The second driver involved in the crash was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Firefighters had to pull Gomez out of her car and transported her to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.
Investigators said Gomez was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash and was placed under arrest for intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault. She was booked into the Dallas County Jail and is being held on $67,000 bond.
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It is not yet known if she has obtained an attorney.
Gomez's mother spoke with NBC 5 Thursday afternoon. She declined to speak on camera, but said she was, "very sorry for the pain they [the victim's family] are feeling. Every life is valuable."
She told NBC 5 she was watching her granddaughter and that her daughter was working at a restaurant along Lemmon Avenue until 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police have not confirmed if Gomez had been working prior to the crash.
According to data from the Texas Department of Transportation, since 2012, along U.S. 75 between the Grayson County and Ellis County lines, there have been 21 wrong-way crashes involving alcohol that left 42 people either injured or killed.
Following a series of reports by NBC 5 Investigates, in January 2017 TxDOT began installing high-tech sensors and warning signs in Tarrant County designed to help prevent deadly wrong-way crashes.
The "DO NOT ENTER" and "WRONG WAY" signs were placed closer to the ground at exit ramps making them more visible to headlights at night -- and hopefully more visible to impaired drivers.
When the sensors pick up a car going the wrong direction, they not only light up warning signs, they also send a message to a TxDOT command center. From that command center, TxDOT can alert the police and post messages on light-up message boards warning other drivers that there’s a car on the highway going the wrong way.
In TxDOT's Dallas district officials said in January they planned to installing red reflective markers on 115 exit ramps in Dallas County in February. The reflectors show white to drivers going the correct way, and red to drivers going the wrong way. TxDOT eventually plans to install the markers on ramps throughout the Dallas district.
NBC 5's Maria Guerrero and Don Peritz contributed to this report.
