Tragic Texas Rollovers
2009 June 22
Recently, in the central Texas area, there have been a number of rollovers reported. Many of these resulted in tragic injuries or deaths. As these posts are intended to illustrates, rollovers are still happening at a high frequency and often leading to serious personal injuries and sometimes death.
Two people were killed and one was injured in a one-vehicle rollover accident on Interstate 20 Sunday morning. Robert Stephen, 51, and Bonnie Beal, 59, both of Waco, were pronounced dead at the scene at 10:59 a.m. by Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 Mitch Shamburger, according to Texas Department of Public Safety reports. Ronnie Beal, 54, Waco, sustained a head injury and is in stable condition at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler. Stephen was driving in the right-hand lane, westbound on I-20, at mile marker 578, when his Ford Explorer drifted left into the center median. He overcorrected while coming back onto the highway and his vehicle rolled over multiple times before coming to rest upright and facing south, DPS reports show. A passenger was ejected from the vehicle. Stephen and Beal were wearing their seatbelts while Ms. Beal was not, the report states.
Freestone County, Texas Rollover:
A Houston woman died at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center Sunday night after injuries from a one-vehicle accident in Freestone County. Roxana Gutierrez, 31, of Houston, was a passenger in a 2006 Ford four-door sedan traveling southbound on South Interstate 45 just south of Fairfield around 8 p.m., according to the Department of Public Safety. The driver, Ernesto Aguirre, also of Houston, veered to the left-center medium near a curve and overcorrected. The car slid sideways and then rolled over. Gutierrez was pronounced dead at the hospital. Aguirre, who also was taken to Hillcrest for injuries, remains in guarded condition with head injuries. Both were wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident, the DPS said.
This Blog discusses roof strength, roof crush, and rollovers frequently. For example, I have posted previously regarding roof crush here, here, and here. If someone you know was injured or killed as the result of a rollover, immediately contact a competent attorney for advice. It is extremely important to do this quickly.
