Easter Sunday is usually a fun day for most Texans in the San Antonio area, but this past Easter Sunday wasn’t such a happy one for three families.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), a pickup that was driving on a slick, rain-soaked S.H 123 near Stockdale lost control at around 9:30 a.m. and slammed head-on into an oncoming pickup. Soon after that, a third pickup truck slammed into those two vehicles. The accident took the lives of three people, including 65-year-old Charles Redden and his wife, Sandra, 61, both from Seguin, Texas, and Ladonna Speer, 76, of Prole, Iowa and Alamo, Texas.
DPS Troopers and other first-responders arrived at the scene early on and they continue to investigate the cause of the grisly crash. What they know so far, based on their preliminary investigation, including the accounts of witnesses, is that the Reddens were traveling south on S.H. 123, when they apparently lost control of their 2011 GMC Canyon, which swerved at least twice into the northbound lane of the highway. At the same time, Wayne Speer, 77, was driving his 2008 Chevy Silverado Z71 2500 pickup truck north on the highway and attempted to take evasive action, but was unable to avoid a crash with the Reddens’ GMC. The GMC hit the front passenger side of the Chevy where his wife, Ladonna, was seated.
Not far behind Speer and headed north on S.H. 123 was 22-year-old Abel Fernandez of Taylor, Texas, who was driving his 2008 Toyota Tacoma truck. After seeing the initial crash, he tried to take evasive action, but he was unsuccessful and ended up crashing into the other vehicles. After emergency personnel arrived, Wayne Speer and Fernandez were transported via AirLife to San Antonio medical facilities. Speer suffered broken bones and had trouble breathing after the accident, and he was listed in critical but stable condition at University Hospital. Fernandez was reportedly stable at the San Antonio Military Medical Center and his injuries were described as non-life-threatening.
For several hours after the accident, S.H. 123 was closed to traffic, as DPS officers, members of the Stockdale and La Vernia Volunteer Fire Departments, EMS personnel and Texas Department of Transportation crews sorted out the scene and gathered evidence. According to the DPS preliminary report, the highway was wet at the time of the accident, due to rain and fog earlier in the morning, and that may have been a factor in the crash. The Speers are considered “winter Texans,” meaning they spend the winter in Alamo, Texas, but their permanent address is in Iowa. The Reddens were on the way to Easter Services at a church in Stockdale where Sandra’s father is pastor.
There will have to be a full investigation into this accident because there are many possible reasons this accident happened, including some that may not be discovered without an investigation and a number of possible responsible parties. There are too many traffic accidents in San Antonio and in Texas generally and a number of problems have to be addressed. If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident, and you believe someone else is at fault, please contact the experienced and knowledgeable auto accident attorney at the Hill Law Firm as soon as possible, so that we can help you recover and protect your rights.