UPDATE (January 22, 2024): Authorities identified the woman who was struck and injured by the allegedly drunk driver as 29-year-old Alexandria Greenhouse.
Tyler, TX — January 7, 2024, six people were injured following an alleged drunk driver accident that happened along Broadway Avenue.
Tyler Police officials said they were called to the area of Broadway Avenue and Front Street at around 1:00 a.m. following a two-vehicle car accident.
According to current statements, a vehicle with six people—five of which were children—was traveling on Broadway. In a series of events unclear, a second vehicle crashed into them allegedly due to that driver being intoxicated.
Following the collision, emergency responders transported one woman and five juveniles from the first vehicle to area hospitals. Some of those injuries may have been serious, according to reports. The driver of the second vehicle was accused of drunk driving and was taken to Smith County Jail for charges of intoxication assault with a vehicle causing serious bodily injury. No further information is available right now.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
To be rather frank, if reports here hadn’t specifically mentioned alcohol, I would have bet 100 to 1 odds that alcohol caused the crash. Our firm has handled hundreds of personal injury cases against bars, restaurants, and other establishments for breaking the law and contributing to serious accidents, and most of those cases involved late night and early morning wrecks where drivers were trying to go home after a night of drinking. In fact, midnight to 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday is just about the peak time for drunk drivers to be on the road following a Saturday night out.
The question is if authorities are taking steps to find out where the allegedly drunk driver here was coming from and if that establishment contributed to this crash, as well. As I said, this is a peak time for people to go out drinking, and there is no shortage of businesses willing to flout the law, take advantage of all the people looking to blow off steam on the weekend, and illegally over-serve customers who are already dangerously intoxicated. If the selfish actions of these establishments result in people getting hurt, it’s only right they, too, have consequences to face for their actions. And that’s not just a personal crusade or anything; that’s Texas law.
But the law doesn’t mean all that much if there’s no one there to enforce it. Obviously, authorities are seeing that the driver has their day in court for allegedly breaking the law and sending five kids to the hospital. It would be a shame if authorities weren’t equally motivated to see consequences for a local alcohol provider who may have done the same.
