A car accident in Irving on Wednesday resulted in the death of a teenage girl and left four others injured.
The incident occurred in the 3900 block of Story Road at approximately 1:15 p.m. on April 5 after a group of five ninth-grade girls reportedly decided to skip school on National School Walkout Day and steal alcoholic drinks from a Tom Thumb store.
“When they went inside the grocery store, they did take alcoholic beverages from inside the store and left without paying for those,” Irving Police Officer Robert Reeves said, per Fox 4 News.
The girls later recorded themselves apparently consuming the drinks and vaping THC before getting into a car driven by a 15-year-old former student of Singley Academy, who now attends Winfree Academy, per Fox 4 News.
Around 1:15 p.m., the driver reportedly lost control of the car at high speed, causing the vehicle to roll after hitting a tree, per NBC DFW. According to police, there was only a driver’s seat in the car, so all of the passengers were riding without seat belts, reported The Dallas Morning News.
A front passenger, whose name has not been released, died on the scene after being ejected from her seat during the crash. Two other passengers were seriously injured but are expected to recover. The driver and one other passenger suffered minor injuries.
The two passengers who suffered minor injuries allegedly left the scene without calling 911 or attempting to provide aid. Police found the two girls near the scene after someone reported the accident, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Officer Reeves said the driver could face DWI charges in light of the video evidence of apparent underage drinking. Irving police said the driver must have a blood alcohol level higher than the adult legal limit to be charged with intoxicated manslaughter, per Fox 4 News. Toxicology tests are pending, according to the DMN.
The incident occurred during a nationwide school walkout organized to bring awareness to gun violence in schools. Students across North Texas, including Singley Academy in Irving, also participated.
Irving Independent School District (ISD) said it did not promote participation in the walkout, but it could not stop students from taking part.
“The death of a student has a ripple effect on the school community. Therefore, additional counselors have been and will continue to be available to provide support to students and staff affected by this loss,” the district said in a statement, per Fox 4 News.
Charges are currently pending for the driver and passenger who allegedly fled the scene, per NBC DFW.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the number of DWI charges reported across Texas increased from 82,597 in 2020 to 90,054 in 2021. This number declined to 82,843 in 2022.
Yet in Dallas, the number of DUIs logged has increased more than 6% year over year, per the DPD’s crime analytics dashboard, with 433 arrests so far in 2023.
At a time when local law enforcement is besieged by rising rates of violent crime, these incidents represent an entirely preventable drain of their resources.
It goes without saying that there are also fatal consequences to impaired driving. The Texas Department of Transportation estimates that one person dies from a DUI-related crash every seven hours and 43 minutes on average statewide.