Houston, TX — There was an accident reported early Saturday morning, October 3, along the Southwest Freeway (U.S. 59) when a suspected drunk driver crashed into the back of a Houston Police Department car. According to the news reports, this happened early in the morning along the highway, as two police officers were trying to help a red SUV that had stalled on the shoulder.
As the officers were helping, a suspected drunk driver came upon them and failed to control their speed or stay in their lane.
The alleged drunk driver then crashed into the back of the police car (which still had 1 officer inside) and pushed it into the red SUV. The SUV was then forced into passing traffic on U.S. 59, where another car struck it.
Remarkably, only non-serious injuries were reported, including the Houston PD officer who was inside the patrol car.
After the wreck, the paramedics and officers at the scene said the driver who hit the patrol was likely under the influence. That person, who wasn’t named, was arrested.
Commentary:
I don’t mean to sound offensive here, but it really seems like a lot of the drunk driving accidents I read about in the news tend to come from the Houston metroplex. Now, part of that is because Houston is a very, very large place — but another part is because they also have a problem with their bars over-serving customers and letting them loose onto the streets.
To that end, does anyone know where this driver had been before he hit that police car? Had he been drinking at a bar or some other place that has a license to serve alcohol? The reason that’s important is because bars can and should be held liable for alcohol-related accidents. I’m talking about accidents that happen because someone who should have been cut off at the bar was instead served 5 more drinks before closing time, then left to stumble out to their car and drive off.
That kind of thing just can’t be obliged, if you ask me. Drunk drivers ought to be punished for their actions, yes, but the law allows us some measures to take against the bars that are, in many ways, at the root cause of these wrecks. In a nutshell, Texas law allows bars to be held liable in civil court for getting customers drunk who then cause accidents. As I’m fond of saying, it’s like they and the drunk driver are co-conspirators to the same crime.
— Grossman Law Offices
