Todd Mission, TX — November 9, 2024, 38-year-old Juan Cervantez was killed and another person was injured in a head-on crash on FM 1774 in Grimes County.
According to authorities, the incident happened around 8:45 p.m. along Farm to Market Road 1774 near County Road 303, close to the Texas Renaissance Festival fairgrounds. Investigators believe that a southbound Jeep Grand Cherokee was passing slower traffic by using the center turn-only lane, when it crashed head-on into a Dodge Ram 1500 that was in the lane waiting to turn onto CR 303.
Juan Cervantez, a passenger in the Jeep, was killed in the collision. The Jeep’s driver was taken to an area hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The Dodge driver was reportedly unhurt.
The investigation is ongoing. No further information is currently available.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
Preliminary reports about this crash seem pretty straightforward, if unfortunate—a passing attempt went wrong and serious injuries followed. As always, however, I’d stress the importance of investigating thoroughly and being sure that’s really the whole story. Sometimes further efforts don’t learn anything that changes the narrative, but the years have taught me that going the extra mile sometimes turns up something unusual—something overlooked at first—that shows the incident in a new light.
So far it doesn’t really seem like investigators took much time to analyze the scene and consider possible contributing factors. For example: How fast was traffic moving, and how fast was the Jeep traveling? Is that area lit at night? Were both vehicles’ headlights on? What were weather and road conditions like in the area? Was the Jeep driver in good health? Might they have been incapacitated somehow? Was anything wrong with the Jeep—bad brakes, faulty seatbelts, damaged airbags? Will anyone gather electronic data from phones, dashcams, and the vehicles’ “black box” recorders? Could anything important have been overlooked at the scene?
That’s not to say police necessarily missed anything important, nor that I know something they don’t. That crash just took a life and may have permanently changed another, and it’s only right to try and fully understand the accident that led to that. I hope authorities will take the time and care needed to ensure the truth is found, as the people affected deserve no less.
