Early Monday morning, a man tragically lost his life in a wrong-way collision in Houston's Timbergrove area. The Houston Police Department reported that a Jeep collided with a shipping container, resulting in the fatality. Arriving at the scene near the intersection of East TC Jester and Ella Boulevard around 2:30 a.m., officials found the vehicle had left the roadway and struck a Conex box in a nearby parking lot, pushing it into a fence before flipping. ABC13 and KHOU report that the police have yet to identify the man.
According to Sgt. David Rose of the Houston Police Department's Vehicular Crimes Division, who responded to the incident, speed was likely a contributing factor as the empty Conex box was pushed a significant distance by the impact, which caused the vehicle to overturn. "That kind of force doesn’t happen if you’re driving the speed limit," Rose told KHOU. The driver, who appeared to have been ejected from the Jeep, was not wearing a seatbelt and was pronounced dead at the scene by Houston Fire Department crews.
The section of TC Jester near Ella was closed in both directions for approximately 2 hours during the investigation, as reported by KHOU. Rose noted that "Unfortunately, it’s a traumatic scene, and we don’t want vehicles coming halfway through and stopping. That could cause more hazards, especially at this time of night," explaining the reason for the full closure of the road during the inquiry.
There were no immediate indications of alcohol at the crash site, but impairment has not been ruled out as a potential cause. "I don't know if he's impaired. However, driving the wrong way on the roadway - it's possible," Rose said in a statement obtained by ABC13. The final determination on the presence of any intoxicants awaits the autopsy results. For the moment, investigators are piecing together where the driver was coming from and working to identify his body.
