Angelina County, TX — March 2, 2024, Jacob Walsh was killed following a car versus pedestrian accident at around 7:00 p.m. on Highway 103.
Preliminary information from authorities said that the incident happened on eastbound lanes of the highway near McKindree Road, east of Lufkin.
According to officials, 36-year-old Jacob Patrick Walsh was on foot at the time. Authorities say he was in the left eastbound lane of travel when a passing Chevy Silverado struck and killed him. It’s not clear at this time why Walsh was reportedly in the roadway. The driver reportedly stayed at the scene, and there’s no indication of pending charges at this time. Right now, no further details are available.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
One of the biggest misconceptions I encounter is the thought that pedestrian accidents are always straight-forward. In reality, there aren’t really any accidents that are always “simple.” Even pedestrian accidents can involve unusual circumstances that investigations need to at least consider. I’ve had cases involving pedestrians that are proof enough of that.
I’ll give an example, though to be clear, I’m not using this example to speculate on what happened here. Rather, it’s to show that authorities don’t always know the whole story. With that said, the accident involved a man who was walking up a freeway exit ramp early in the morning when a vehicle hit and killed him. His family couldn’t figure out why he was in such a place, and authorities didn’t do much to answer their questions. They contacted us, and independent investigations found out something authorities completely overlooked.
Apparently, the victim had been out with friends that night. They were at an establishment drinking, and over the course of the evening, that establishment illegally over-served the victim. He got to the point that he was extremely intoxicated. Now, he tried to do the right thing by attempting to walk home rather than drive and put others in danger. Unfortunately, his intoxication disoriented him, and he accidentally wandered into the roadway where the accident occurred.
What authorities just wrote off as someone being reckless and walking on a highway turned out to be a much more complex series of events which involved a local alcohol provider breaking the law and contributing to a fatal accident. Had the family just accepted the initial investigation, they may never have learned the truth, and an establishment responsible for their role in getting someone killed could have rode off into the sunset like nothing ever happened.
Again, that’s just a possibility that thorough investigations should be able to rule out or confirm. It’s not just about finding out if someone was in a crosswalk. Even if nothing unusual leads to an accident, it’s at least worthwhile for a family to know they’re getting the whole story. Perhaps authorities here took all of that into account already and were more thorough behind the scenes than their public statements suggest. If this incident is like far too many I’ve encountered, though, there could still be more information to bring to light.
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