HUNT COUNTY, TEXAS
A fiery crash in Hunt County has left four people and a dog dead.
Just before 2 a.m. Friday, a white SUV carrying five teenagers collided with a wrong-way driver in a silver Mercury. He was going east on westbound Interstate 30, just east of Greenville, authorities say.
Both vehicles were then hit by a tractor trailer that couldn't stop in time. The SUV carrying the teens caught fire.
The wrong-way driver has been identified as Kenneth Frazier, a 78-year-old resident. Frazier's beloved dog, Pee Wee, also died in the accident.
Holly Novak, a-18-year-old Virginia resident, has been identified as one of the deceased from the SUV. The names of the other two fatality victims from the SUV had not yet been released.
The driver of the tractor trailer was not hurt.
“It’s the worst one I’ve ever seen,” said Hunt County Justice of the Peace Wayne Money. “It’ll be a long time before you forget this one.”
Authorities say Novak and the others in the SUV were driving from Virginia to Austin when the accident occurred. It is not clear why they were going to Austin.
She says he left the house in rural Royse City to go pay the electric bill. He thought his electricity was about to be turned off, she said.
She says she tried to convince him not to leave.
“He was going to pay the electric bill because he thought today was the eighth,” said Shanna McChristian, his friend and housekeeper. “He’s headstrong. He just knew that today was the eighth and they were going to come and cut it off and he couldn’t stand that for his little old dogs.”
Kenneth Frazier, 78, was driving the wrong way on Interstate 30 when
he crashed into an SUV full of teenagers. Tanya Eiserer has the story.
He says the SUV had burned so hot that it had melted the frame. The only sign of the accident Friday afternoon as the scorched grass along the grassy median, where the SUV caught fire.
“They were young,” Money said. “They left his earth too soon.”
Hannah Galbrith, 18, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital by helicopter. She is in critical condition. Kevin DiCiccio, 19, was initially taken to a Hunt County Hospital, but was transferred to Parkland. He was alert and talking, authorities say.
McChristan says Frazier had recently had to put his wife into the nursing home. He was a retired truck driver.
“He was a wonderful person,” she said. “He would give you the world, if you thought you really needed it. He was a great boss.”
McChristian says her boss would have been devastated by what happened.
“They had their whole lives ahead of them,” she said. “I know he wouldn’t have done anything to hurt them kids. My heart goes out to the families.”
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3 Virginia teens killed, 2 are in critical condition in fiery crash in Deadly Messy Texas
Posted: Aug 07, 2015 2:58 PM EST
By Paul Hess, WVVA Internet Director
GREENVILLE, TX (KXAS)
Four people have died, including three teenagers, when a wrong-way driver triggered a collision on a north Texas interstate.
Authorities say a vehicle driving east in the westbound lanes of interstate 30 early Friday collided with an SUV carrying five teens. The collision near Greenville then caused the SUV to erupt in flames.
A Texas department of public safety trooper said that a tractor-trailer then struck both vehicles. He said three of the teens died at the scene, Dale Neibaur, 19, Holly Novak, 18, and Kyle Mathers, 19. Two other teens are in critical condition. The driver of the other vehicle was also killed. The driver of the big rig was not hurt.
According to Texas DPS, the five teens were traveling from Virginia to Austin.