A man has been arrested after a deadly wrong-way crash near Grapevine Mills Mall early Sunday morning.
Grapevine police responded to the crash between three vehicles at about 4 a.m. Sunday on State Highway 121 near Bass Pro Drive. Police said a vehicle was going southbound in the northbound lanes.
One of the drivers hit by the wrong-way driver died at the scene. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner identified him as 38-year-old Stephen Herrera of Fort Worth.
Herrera was a father of two, according to a friend and coworker. Christopher Percosky says he worked with Herrera at a Fort Worth-based 24 hour pharmacy. Herrera was on call Saturday night and was answering an urgent request for medication early Sunday morning.
"He left his family in the middle of the night to make sure an elderly person got medication," said Percosky. "He was delivering emergency medication to a hospice patient in Denton. He always answered the call."
Percosky says Herrera was dedicated to his work and was devoted to his two teenage children.
"It's just unbelievable. I've never lost a driver. It's really hard," said Percosky.
The driver going the wrong way, according to police, is identified as 37-year-old Derrick Lockhart. He was transported to a local hospital then to jail. A third person in a third vehicle was treated for a minor injury.
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Grapevine police say they believe Lockhart was traveling from Lewisville to his home in Desoto when he somehow got turned around and ended up in Grapevine. Investigators are working to learn where the suspect may have been drinking before the crash and how long he was on the road.
Other drivers began calling 911 to report the wrong way driver at 4:07 a.m., according to Grapevine police. The crash happened at 4:11 a.m.
"We started getting 911 calls about four minutes before the crash actually happened. Our officers were already on the highway searching for the car when the wreck happened," said Amanda McNew with the Grapevine Police Department.
Investigators believe alcohol was involved in the crash and a warrant was requested for a blood sample from Lockhart. Test results will take a few weeks, but police say they believe Lockhart was intoxicated. He is in jail facing a charge of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and a charge of intoxication assault with a vehicle.
State Highway 121 reopened at about 10 a.m. Sunday.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Herrera's family pay for funeral expenses.
