A Sugar Land driver has been sentenced in a crosswalk case after a crash killed a man walking his dog nearly two years ago. On Wednesday, Bao Lung Giang pleaded guilty and received 10 years of deferred adjudication probation and some time in jail. This is the first case in the county under the Lisa Torry Smith Act, following the death of pedestrian Donald Yeager.
Under the deal, Giang will spend 10 years on deferred adjudication probation and must serve 120 days in jail. He is also required to complete 300 hours of community service, pay a $5,000 fine, attend a Victim Impact Panel every year, take annual defensive driving, read letters written by Yeager’s family, submit to random drug testing and live with sharply limited driving privileges, as reported by Click2Houston.
The law that led to the charge
The Lisa Torry Smith Act, which Fort Bend prosecutors helped craft and which Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June 2021, spells out a clear duty for drivers to yield to people in marked crosswalks and adds criminal penalties when they fail. The offense is a Class A misdemeanor that can be bumped up to a state jail felony if the pedestrian suffers serious bodily injury, per the text from the Texas Capitol.
How the crash unfolded
The fatal collision happened around 8 a.m. in September 2023 at New Territory Boulevard and Heatherton Way in Sugar Land, where authorities say Giang hit 60-year-old Donald Yeager as Yeager crossed in a marked crosswalk while walking his dog. Yeager was flown to a nearby hospital and died later that morning. The initial arrest and the prosecutor’s early decision to use the new crosswalk law were detailed by the Houston Chronicle.
Prosecutors hope the sentence serves as a deterrent
Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian M. Middleton, who helped write the Lisa Torry Smith Act, announced Giang’s plea and cast the sentence as a clear message to anyone who treats crosswalks as optional. “This was the first case my office charged under the Lisa Torry Smith Act, but it has not been the last,” Middleton said, as stated by Click2Houston.
Legal note: Deferred adjudication explained
Giang’s plea is for deferred adjudication community supervision, a form of probation that pauses final conviction while a defendant follows strict court-ordered conditions. Under Texas law, a judge may grant deferred adjudication and set terms of supervision; if those terms are successfully completed, the case can be dismissed. If the defendant violates the terms, however, the court can move to adjudicate guilt and impose any punishment allowed for the original offense, as noted in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Art. 42A.
Where it leaves the community
Prosecutors and traffic safety groups say cases like this aim to reduce pedestrian deaths, especially on neighborhood streets. They hope Giang’s case encourages drivers to slow down and stop at crosswalks in neighborhoods and school zones. Local reporting and advocates have followed the law’s implementation and its use in crashes like Yeager’s.
