Houston, TX — August 2, 2025, Ronnie Burns and Jayden Flemming were killed due to an alleged drunk driver accident at 2:00 a.m. on Smith Street.
According to initial details about the accident, it happened at the intersection of Smith Street and Elgin Street.
Preliminary information says that Ronnie Burns and Jayden Flemming were in a Lexus going through the Smith and Elgin intersection. Meanwhile, a police pursuit occurred at Smith Street and Dennis Street. It continued to Elgin where the fleeing vehicle reportedly ran the light, crashing into Ronnie Burns and Jayden Flemming’s vehicle.
Due to the collision, Ronnie Burns and Jayden Flemming were killed. One person from the fleeing vehicle reportedly was injured. The alleged fleeing driver is accused of being drunk at the time of the accident. That driver is said to be facing murder charges. This and other details are still under investigation.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
As serious as these reported charges are, they may not be the end of the story. Simply put, I’ve handled hundreds of alcohol-related accident cases. Families do not want some “bad guy” to blame. They want to see accountability. Sometimes, that’s just one individual reckless driver. A lot of the time, though, there’s a complicit alcohol provider who also broke the law and needs to be held accountable.
Here’s what that means. In Texas, bars, restaurants, and other alcohol providers can be responsible for contributing to deadly accidents. If they over-serve someone who is obviously intoxicated, and that leads to people getting hurt or killed, Texas law allows for those establishments to face consequences. Not only can this be a crucial step for seeing accountability for someone’s death, it can help ensure the alcohol provider cleans up their act before their behavior harms anyone else.
The problem, though, is this too often goes overlooked. I can’t count how many times a family came to us after a drunk driving accident, and authorities had already moved on to other responsibilities. The fact of the matter is their priorities often begin and end at the crash scene. So if there’s a driver already facing serious charges, they might not bother looking for a complicit negligent alcohol provider.
I’ve seen Harris County officials be more proactive in looking for negligent alcohol providers in recent years. Perhaps they’re doing so here. But it’s important to follow up with authorities as soon as possible to find out what steps they’re taking to make things right for the victims’ families. If alcohol was a factor here, and authorities aren’t asking where that alcohol came from, they might be missing something crucial that the families deserve to know.
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