Teen killed, father injured after suspected drunk driver crashes into home in White Settlement
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas - Police are investigating a deadly crash in White Settlement after a truck that was driven by a suspected drunk driver went into a house Sunday evening.
This wreck happened just after 6:15 p.m., in the 9300 block of Jason Court, near the junction of I-30 and I-820.
According to police, a truck pulling a trailer was traveling at a high rate of speed, when it lost control, crashed through a home's backyard, crossed the street, and crashed into another home.
It drove into one of the home's bedrooms and another part of the house.
There were three people in the home at the time of the crash. A teenage girl, who police said attended Saginaw High School, was killed, her father was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, and her mother was not seriously injured. The victims' names have not been released.
White Settlement Police say Donald Gruber, 63, was driving the truck and there was a woman in the passenger seat. Gruber was arrested for intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault. The woman was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
White Settlement Police arrested Donald Gruber, 63, for intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault.
"We talk about it all the time, these are preventable," White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook said. "We beg people to not get behind the wheel when they've had something to drink because it can affect your ability to operate a vehicle. You see that here. Losing control into the neighbor's fence, across the street and into the home."
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Those who live nearby described what they saw.
"We heard everything. BOOM. A big bang. We started running," Jose O’Neill recalled. "I start running there and try to help them. I saw our neighbor calling, calling two names and it was just driving me crazy. I was trying to find them."
"And I heard a really loud bang, and I was towards the back yard, and I was like something doesn’t sound right," Michael Moran said. "All the neighbors were getting together, and when the officers came, what happened was they asked us if we could help move the brush, and we did so we could get the hose in."