texas

Alcohol Involved In Wrong Way Crash That Killed Mother & 2 Boys: Police

"I'd give anything for it to be me instead of her," the man whose granddaughter and great-grandsons were killed told NBC 5.

Investigators say a man may have been drinking before he drove the wrong way and crashed head-on into a 22-year-old Burleson woman's car, killing her and her two young sons and wounding her half-sister, in North Texas Sunday.

Maranda Abshire was driving with her sons, 5-year-old Christopher Adrian Dominguez and 2-year-old Cruz Dominguez, and her 13-year-old half-sister, Lindsey Reynolds, along U.S. Highway 67 in Alvarado at about 1:30 a.m. when a Toyota pickup hit their Ford Mustang head-on.

The mother and her two sons were killed, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner. Reynolds survived, her family said, and was treated at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth for injuries that were not life threatening.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do without them,” said Eldon Abshire, Maranda's grandfather. “To be honest with you, I just don’t know — it’s so sad. We loved them so much.”

Eldon Abshire said he and his wife watched the boys five days a week while Maranda worked, usually late in the evenings, at Chili’s in Cleburne. He said his granddaughter had just picked up her boys and her half-sister and planned to spend a few days of Spring Break at her Burleson home when the crash happened.

Abshire told NBC 5 his granddaughter worked hard to provide for her children.

“I couldn’t love anything more than I love those kids,” he said. “I’d give anything for it to be me instead of her. Anything in this world.”

Alvarado police said the investigation into the crash is ongoing and that they had been alerted to the wrong-way driver and were responding to the call when the crash happened.  While few details have been released, they did say all four people in the Mustang were properly restrained with either seat belts or secured in car seats.

The pickup's driver, whose name has not yet been released, was flown to a hospital by air ambulance in unknown condition, police said. Police said he may have been driving in the wrong direction for several miles before the crash and that containers of alcohol were found in his truck.

Information on charges is expected to be released soon.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us