A man who stopped to help a driver in a crash overnight Sunday was briefly hospitalized after being injured in a secondary crash. Police said both crashes involved people suspected of drunken driving.
The first crash happened on U.S. Highway 287 near the Village Creek Road exit at about 2:30 a.m. Monday when police said 26-year-old Rachel Hadley crashed her SUV into a construction barrier.
Police said the driver of a Dodge pickup truck stopped and jumped out to help the woman.
“While they were helping her, another vehicle, a third vehicle, comes up and actually strikes the back of that pickup truck,” said Calzada.
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The man who tried to help at the scene was thrown by the crash and hospitalized for minor injuries. He was later released the same day.
Investigators told NBC 5 that the driver of the Infiniti sedan that caused the three-car crash had also been drinking. Two people in that car were seriously injured in the crash and were hospitalized.
The man who stopped to help told NBC 5 he was disappointed in the other drivers’ actions and wished they would have made safer choices.
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Police said the two suspected intoxicated drivers are now facing charges. Police said Hadley was being charged with driving while intoxicated and the second driver, whose name has not been released and who caused the three-car crash, will be charged with intoxication assault. It's unclear whether either driver retained an attorney to speak on their behalf.
Pictures from the crash showed three severely damaged cars scattered across US 287, the remains of a collision that Fort Worth police said could have been worse.
“Twenty-three percent of all accidents involving DWI are fatal,” said Buddy Calzada, public information officer with the Fort Worth Police Department. “This one was extremely dangerous.”
“Unfortunately, it’s happening way too often,” said Calzada. “Our last officer that we lost in the line of duty was because of a drunk driver.”
Police said with so many alternatives to driving under the influence, like getting a ride from a sober friend or arranging a rideshare, putting others on the road at risk shouldn’t be an option.
“We have holidays coming up, we want you to spend your time with those loved ones,” said Calzada. “We don’t want you to get drunk and injure those loved ones, we don’t want you having to worry about your loved ones on the roadways.”
