HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The Houston Police Department says a deadly chain reaction crash is what led to an hours-long closure of the East Freeway on Friday morning.
Houston TranStar reported the multi-vehicle wreck just before 6 a.m. on I-10 East westbound at Waco Street near Lockwood Drive. As of 9:55 a.m., the freeway was reopened.
SkyEye flew over several damaged vehicles at the scene. According to HPD, a total of five cars were involved in the crash.
Lt. Va’Shawnda McLean with HPD Vehicular Crimes said the driver of a sedan came off the road near where the feeder is and went down an embankment.
“It went airborne. It landed on the freeway in the major lanes of traffic. There are road markings that suggest that, and it struck at least one vehicle, which began a series of events ending with multiple cars involved,” she said.
Police said that the initial driver — a woman believed to be in her 30s — was killed. HPD said two others are in the hospital.
“Two other vehicles struck head-on — the persons in those two vehicles were transported to Ben Taub and Memorial Hospital, and we are on standby,” McLean said. “We do have a unit at the hospital to wait to see if there are going to be additional fatalities subsequent to this accident.”
It’s unclear at this time what may have led the driver to go off the road. Authorities said the medical examiner will conduct an autopsy.
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