Victims In Deadly Collin County Chain-Reaction Crash Identified
COLLIN COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - Four people were killed Tuesday and another nine injured after a chain of car crashed along State Highway 121 near County Road 528 in northern Collin County.
Investigators with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) now believe the 16-year-old driver of a Pontiac Grand Prix, which was travelling northbound, slowed down to make a left turn. The Grand Prix was rear ended by a pickup and sent spinning into oncoming traffic, causing three more vehicles to crash. Two of the four people in the Pontiac, 15-year-old Abigail Kendall and 15-year-old Brianna Gesino, both from Anna, died at scene.
Today administrators confirmed that all of the teenagers in the Grand Prix had ties to the Anna Independent School District. A statement was issued that said, in part:
"Anna ISD is grieving the loss of two young lives, as tragedy struck the Anna community yesterday. One of our Anna High School students and a former Anna ISD student sadly passed away in a car accident, while two other AHS students were injured. The Anna ISD family extends our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of these students."
Two passengers in a Ford Focus that was hit by several of the vehicles, 51-year-old passenger Julie Trimble and 51-year-old Wayne Trimble, both from Ivanhoe, were also killed. A four-year-old girl in the car survived, but suffered serious injuries and was transferred from a hospital in Collin County to a local Children's Medical Center.
Of the nine people hurt three were immediately taken to Medical City Plano and the six others to Medical Center of McKinney. "We've got multiple people transported to various medical facilities," said DPS spokesman Lt. Lonny Haschel.
According to a Medical Center Plano spokesperson, at some point in the evening two of the injured in McKinney were transferred to the hospital in Plano. Today two of those crash victims are in critical condition.
Officials say their investigation into the cause of the crash is going to be exhaustive. "We want to make sure we do a complete and thorough job with the investigation and again there's a lot of parts to it," Lt. Haschel. "So, these folks are very focused and they're going to remain that way until they can piece everything together."
Highway 121, near the unincorporated community of Westminster, about 30 miles northwest of Plano, was closed throughout the evening yesterday as state troopers cleared the scene and gathered information.
