Franklin County, TX — June 16, 2024, Ricky Featherston was killed and Roger Huff and Polly Featherston were injured in an alleged drunk driver accident on TX-37.
According to authorities, the accident happened around 8:22 a.m. near County Road 1100, about halfway between Mt. Vernon and Bogata.
Investigators said that 70-year-old Ricky Featherston, 47-year-old Roger Huff, and 40-year-old Polly Featherston were on separate motorcycles all going northbound along the highway. From the southbound lanes, it appears a Ford Escape went left of center, crashing into Ricky Featherston and Roger Huff. Polly Featherston reportedly evaded the Ford and crashed off-road.
Due to the accident, Ricky Featherston was killed. Roger Huff reportedly had serious injuries while Polly Featherston’s injuries were said to be moderate. The driver of the Ford was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. Authorities recommended charges for intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
I’ve handled hundreds of cases involving drunk drivers, and frankly, it’s unusual to see one just after 8:00 a.m. The reason this really concerns me is because not a lot of people wake up and start drinking. Some do, of course, but there’s also the possibility someone wakes up and drives after a night of heavy drinking. Here’s why that matters.
Thinking back to many of the cases I’ve had involving negligent bars over-serving someone and contributing to an accident, a lot of them involved someone over three times the legal limit. Let’s use that as an example. The human body metabolizes alcohol at a predictable rate. So if someone drinks until closing time, goes home at more than three times the legal limit, then sleeps for six and a half hours and wakes up to go to work, they’d still be around twice the legal limit. They were so over-served from the night before that they were still too drunk to drive hours later even though they didn’t touch another drop of alcohol.
Again, I can’t say if that happened here. It’s just that people often think these kinds of accidents are simple or straight-forward just because it seems obvious that someone did something wrong. But proper investigations shouldn’t be concerned with just finding someone to pin the blame on. They should be about getting the whole story, especially when considering situations where there could be more than one wrongdoer who needs to be held accountable. Are those steps being taken here?
call us 
Email Us 
Text us