Houston, TX — December 19, 2023, Franklin Hirsekorn Jr. was killed following a single-vehicle accident at around 3:00 p.m. along Fairbanks White Oak Road.
Authorities said in preliminary statements that the crash happened on December 11 in the area of Fairbanks White Oak Drive and Hollister Street.
Investigators say that 68-year-old Franklin Hirsekorn Jr. was driving a Ford Explorer along Fairbanks White Oak where it curves to go from northbound/southbound to eastbound/westbound. Hirsekorn’s vehicle had apparently passed this turn and was going westbound when it left the side of the road and overturned in the ditch.
Authorities say they took Hirsekorn to a hospital with serious injuries, but he ultimately succumbed to those injuries. There did not appear to be anyone else involved in the crash.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
One detail stood out to me which is worth shining a light on, but I want to emphasize that while this information may be upsetting, I’m bringing it up for a very important reason. Authorities mentioned in their statements that they believe Mr. Hirsekorn was over four times the legal blood-alcohol content limit when the crash happened. To put that as delicately as possible, that’s an extremely concerning level of alleged intoxication. But what makes details like that stand out to me is that’s it’s pretty rare for someone drinking to that level of intoxication to do so at their home before then deciding to go for a drive. The statistics back this up. The vast majority of drunk drivers are coming from a bar or restaurant.
Our legislators saw those same statistics and decided to pass laws to fight the problem. To that end, Texas made it illegal for bars, restaurants, and other alcohol providers to over-serve someone who is obviously intoxicated. Some people take issue with that, thinking it’s just a way to blame a business for a driver’s mistakes. But there are two reasons why that thinking is flawed.
Since prohibition, it’s always been illegal for businesses sell alcohol to obviously intoxicated drinkers. There just weren’t any consequences. The legislature changed that. Now, just like any of us could see the inside of a court room for breaking the law, alcohol providers, too, are subject to consequences when they break the law. We as a community can recognize that driving drunk is a mistake while also acknowledging businesses that illegally over-serve those drivers are often the source of problem.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, alcohol providers who get into trouble for over-serving people are often being way more reckless than people realize. Consider what authorities are alleging here. They say the victim was over four times the legal limit. That’s not just a few beers. At that level of intoxication, people can outright die due to the alcohol alone. I’ve even handled wrongful death cases—yes, multiple—against alcohol providers whose reckless over-service led to people dying from alcohol poisoning before there could even be an accident.
Think of it another way. We’ve all been at parties where someone has had too much. In those situations did we continue to give alcohol the drinker, or did we say, “You’ve had enough?” The answer is obvious. We behave this way because that’s what decent, civilized people do. When we see someone in trouble, we don’t add to their troubles, we help. If an alcohol provider found themselves in the same situation prior to this crash and continued to serve, they not only potentially contributed to this crash, maybe broke the law, but failed a test of basic humanity.
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