Wise County Justice of the Peace Terri Johnson was remembered fondly Sunday. Texas DPS says she was killed when she was driving the wrong way on SH 287 and crashed into an SUV. Three people in the other vehicle also died.
A wrong-way driver died and three people in an sport utility vehicle were killed in a crash on state Highway 287, four miles south of Decatur, Saturday evening.
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Sgt. Lonny Haschel said just before 6 p.m. the driver of a Volkswagen Passat was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of SH 287 and collided with a Chevrolet Trailblazer head-on.
Haschel said three people in the Trailblazer were killed and a 4-year-old girl was taken by air ambulance to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth.
The driver of the Passat, later confirmed to be Wise County Justice of the Peace Terri Johnson, was also killed, according to Haschel.
On Sunday, Haschel identified the victims from the Trailblazer as 32-year-old Juan Jose Rios and 50-year-old Sherry Ann Rios, both of Quanah, and 35-year-old Amy Dee Culwell, of Chillicothe.
Haschel said he had no new information on the condition of the 4-year-old girl.
The investigation is ongoing, investigators found no indication of alcohol and are awaiting the results of the Dallas County medical examiner's report, which could take weeks.
Johnson Remembered Fondly
Flags outside of Johnson's office at the Wise County Law Enforcement Center were lowered to half staff Sunday.
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"She was just a really good lady. She was very wise and served our county to the best of her abilities," said Shelly Renaud, who runs the Wise County Teen Court which Johnson was actively involved in. It's a program where teens charged with misdemeanors are given a second chance in front of a jury of their teen peers.
Renaud's son Aaron, now in college, became a junior judge in teen court. Renaud said Johnson, a Justice of the Peace since 2007, treated the kids like young adults. "She really did take her job to heart. She believed in Wise County. She believed in the kids," said Renaud "She believed in Wise Area Teen Court."
A fellow Wise County Justice of the Peace, Jan Morrow told NBC 5 on the phone she was too upset for an interview. She said it's a terrible thing for Wise County and she can only think about Johnson's family and the family of those killed in the SUV.
Renaud said the healing process will be slow. "It is a tragedy. It's a true loss for Wise County and for us as individuals," she said.
NBC 5's Mark Schnyder contributed to this report.
