Taylor County, TX — August 4, 2024, Syed Sulman Haider and one other were killed following a wrong-way driver accident at around 2:45 a.m. along Interstate 20.
Authorities said in preliminary statements that the accident took place on eastbound lanes at Exit 278 for Business I-20 West.
According to officials, 32-year-old Syed Sulman Haider was in a Dodge Ram going eastbound along the interstate. It appears a Toyota sedan entered eastbound lanes going the wrong direction. As a result, the Toyota collided head-on into Syed Sulman Haider’s vehicle. After this, a chain reaction involving an 18-wheeler occurred. Due to the collision, both Syed Sulman Haider and the Toyota driver died. It’s unclear if anyone else was hurt.
Right now, further information about the accident is unavailable.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
First of all, it’s important that the evidence is able to speak for itself here. Unlikely as it may be, this all could have just been an unavoidable mistake. More likely, of course, is that the driver who somehow went up an exit ramp and into oncoming traffic was intoxicated. This is especially common at this time of day, considering Saturday night is the peak time for people to go drinking, and bars would have closed less than an hour before the accident happened. So is that what happened here? If so, are authorities looking into where the alcohol came from?
Here’s why that matters. In Texas, it’s illegal for bars and other alcohol providers to over-serve someone who is obviously intoxicated and a clear danger to themselves or others due to their intoxication. I’ve handled hundreds of cases against negligent alcohol providers. The reality is every wrong-way accident I’ve handled involved an extremely intoxicated driver. Someone at that level of intoxication usually has help getting to that point, meaning any alcohol provider that served them is virtually guaranteed to have broken the law and can therefore be on the hook for the resulting accident.
Again, that may not be what happened here. In my experience, though, that would put this situation in the very small minority of wrong way accidents. Ultimately, two people lost their lives here, and there are no doubt people out there looking for answers. They deserve to get those answers as soon as possible, especially if there’s an alcohol provider out there who broke the law, contributed to the crash, and may still be out there putting the community at risk.
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