Separate Wrong-Way Crashes on I-45 in the Woodlands Leave Five Dead

Five killed, two injured in separate wrong-way car accidents this weekend.

The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that two different wrong-way interstate accidents on I-45 near The Woodlands resulted in five fatalities and two critical injuries. Authorities believe that both accidents involved alcohol and that road design was not an issue.
The first Montgomery County wrong-way accident occurred on Friday morning just before 4 a.m., when 23-year-old Nicole Baukus entered the southbound lanes of I-45 in The Woodlands going north. Several witnesses called in the wrong-way driver, but by the time police arrived, the young woman had driven her pickup truck head-on into another vehicle. Two people in the car that was hit died: 19-year-old driver Nicole Adams and a not-identified 19-year-old passenger. A third person, 21-year-old David Porras, is in critical condition at a Houston Hospital. Baukus has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxication assault.
The second fatal Texas car accident took place on Sunday morning, July 1, when 42-year-old Edward Blackwell was driving north in the southbound feeder road off of I-45 near Research Forest Drive in Montgomery County. The man struck a car traveling in the correct direction head-on, killing 27-year-old Dominique Hobbs of Grand Prairie and 25-year-old Anis Atkins of Dallas-Fort Worth. The passenger in Blackwell’s car, 47-year-old Stephen Isbel, was also killed, while Blackwell was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition. Emergency responders said alcohol was found in his blood. The accident occurred at just after 1:30 in the morning.
The Texas personal injury lawyers at the Rasansky Law Firm send their condolences to all involved in these tragic accidents.