Hardin County, TX — February 2, 2024, James Means, Allen Wesenberg, and a child were killed and one was injured after an alleged intoxicated driver accident.
According to information from the Texas Department of Public Safety, news outlets say the crash happened in the Silsbee area long F.M. 327 at around 6:25 p.m.
Officials apparently say that 39-year-old James Means and an 11-year-old girl were on a Harley Davidson while 37-year-old Allen Wesenberg was operating another Harley Davidson motorcycle with a 7-year-old boy riding as a passenger. As the pair of bikes traveled eastbound on the highway, it appears a Saturn going westbound crossed into oncoming lanes and crashed into Means and Wesenberg’s motorcycles.
Due to the collision, all four people on the motorcycles were seriously injured. Reports say Means succumbed to his injuries at the scene while Wesenberg and the 11-year-old girl died following transport to the hospital. The 7-year-old boy continues to recover at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
Authorities currently allege that the driver of the Saturn was intoxicated at the time of the crash. He reportedly faces pending charges for intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault. While unconfirmed right now, those charges typically happen because the accused driver was under the influence of alcohol. If it turns out alcohol was involved here, a drunk driver responsible for all of this should face every appropriate consequence possible. What frustrates me, though, is the efforts of authorities often start and stop with the alleged drunk driver. To be blunt, it’s rare that investigators bother looking into where the drunk driver was before the crash and even more rare they take action against those alcohol providers when they do break the law.
Despite how some think of it, holding alcohol providers is not a way to shift blame off of drunk drivers. Quite the opposite. Of the hundreds of cases where I’ve helped families confront negligent alcohol providers who harmed them or a loved one, I’ve yet to see an establishment held accountable who returned to their old ways. Each of them cleaned up their act, and that meant one more provider in the community no longer putting the public in danger.
After a crash like this, everyone wants to make sure all of the wrongdoers are punished. But just as importantly, we want to do what we can to prevent another family from going through what these folks are going through. Can that really happen if only the drunk driver is held accountable?
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