Three people are dead after a collision during a street race early Friday in Fort Worth, police say.
Fort Worth police spokesman Buddy Calzada said it happened shortly after midnight in the area along the 4700 block of West Risinger Road.
According to Calzada, two vehicles were racing on Risinger when a vehicle from an intersecting road, Burr Oak Lane, pulled into the path of the speeding racers and was hit.
Two people in the car that had pulled out and the driver of the car that struck them were all pronounced dead at the scene, Calzada said.
"When these vehicles are going at a high rate of speed, they can’t maneuver in time and a person can’t avoid them in time," he said. "Instead of planning Thanksgiving, instead of getting ready for Christmas, you have a family that’s planning a funeral for two individuals."
The second street racer fled before officers arrived, Calzada said.
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No arrests have been made and the names of those involved have not been released.
The two innocent victims in the crash were a married couple with four children who live in the area, according to neighbors and a woman who identified herself as the aunt of the woman who was killed.
"She was beautiful. She was fun-loving. She was an amazing mom and wife, and it’s just a huge loss," said Donna Anderson, who came to the scene to console the couple's children.
Several neighbors said the issue of street racing has been something they have been dealing with for years. Brenda Steffy has lived in the area for 19 years and said the problem has gotten worse over the past five or six years.
"I have said many times, 'People, please be careful going off on those side streets,' because I swear these people are going 80 to 90 miles an hour. Maybe 100. They’re going so fast it scares me and it shakes my house with those loud mufflers that they have," Steffy said. "I am constantly, when I hear that racing, just fearing that I’m going to hear screeching tires and metal."
District 6 city councilman Jungus Jordan doesn't live far from the scene of the crash and said Friday he was devastated to hear what happened. The problems of excessive speeding and street racing have been brought up before city council members, Jordan said.
"In order to enforce it, you have to observe it and it’s very difficult having a police car in the right spot 24/7 and a police officer 24/7," Jordan said.
Jordan said their biggest ask of residents is to report a problem as soon as they see it, but he recognized that is also challenging.
"I see it myself," he said. "Unfortunately when a car is going excessive speed, by the time you call it in, they’re gone unless we have a [police] car in the immediate area but we do stake out patrols."
Authorities asked anyone with information on this incident to contact Fort Worth police.
An online fundraising campaign was launched to benefit the children of the couple killed in the crash. Click here to learn more.
