Couple killed in East Dallas hit-and-run crash

Power was out in a section of East Dallas on the night a couple’s car was struck broadside by a truck. Traffic police report that traffic lights in the neighborhood were out of operation and that the electricity outage may have played a factor in the fatal car accident.

Accident investigation reports say the crash at the Ferguson Road and Joaquin Road intersection occurred around 8 p.m. when the driver of a light-colored pickup truck slammed into the side of another car. The force of the crash sent the car careening into a nearby pole.

Police say the pickup truck driver fled the accident scene without stopping. Investigators believe the truck driver may have been hurt in the East Dallas crash. Damage to the truck, described as having an over-sized, black front grill, was believed to be severe.

Medical officials say a 38-year-old female accident victim, the passenger in the car, died shortly after she was transported to a nearby hospital. The 34-year-old driver suffered serious injuries including a torn aorta and fractured hip. He died at Baylor Medical Center two days after the crash. The couple, who was headed home from a trip a grocery store, were the parents of two children, ages 3 and 8.

Dallas traffic safety officials say they had been notified about two hours before the fatal crash that the traffic lights were out. The technician who was assigned to fix them was unable to attend to the problem immediately because he was already working on several problems in the area. The traffic lights in the area of the hit-and-run accident were repaired just before 10 p.m., almost two hours following the crash.

It is unclear if police will file charges against the pickup driver if they find him.

Source: NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, “Traffic Light Out at Time of Fatal Hit-and-Run Wreck,” Ellen Goldberg, 15 July 2011