A 70-year-old Richardson man was killed last Thursday night after being thrown from his car in a rollover crash on East Buckingham Road, with officers finding him unconscious on the ground when they arrived. Police identified the driver as Hagos Wldemical, who was pronounced dead following the roughly 8:50 p.m. collision in the 500 block of the roadway.
According to preliminary findings from the City of Richardson, Wldemical was driving westbound on East Buckingham Road when an eastbound vehicle attempting to turn left into an apartment complex in the 500 block struck the driver's side of his car, causing it to overturn. The crash was also reported by The Dallas Express, which noted that Wldemical died after being ejected in the rollover.
Emergency Crews Respond, Investigators Take Over
Richardson Fire Department paramedics transported Wldemical to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased, while the driver of the second vehicle was uninjured, according to Irving Weekly.
The Richardson Police Department's Special Crash Investigation Team took over the scene, using 3D FARO Technologies forensic mapping equipment to reconstruct the collision for a case file that will go to the district attorney's office, per the Richardson Police Department. Investigators have not said whether the left-turning driver will face traffic citations or criminal charges, and it remains unclear whether speed or alcohol played a role in the collision.
A History of Tragedy Meets a Push for Safer Streets
This isn't the first tragedy on that stretch of East Buckingham Road. In April, Richardson officers responded to a pre-dawn welfare check that ended with a woman, a child, and a man found dead inside an apartment on the same block, per Hoodline.
The crash comes as Richardson works to implement its 'Safer Streets Richardson' plan, developed with a U.S. Department of Transportation grant after data showed 6,292 crashes citywide between 2020 and 2024, including 195 that resulted in fatal or serious injuries, according to Community Impact. City officials announced the initiative in February, citing corridor safety and left-turn collision mitigation as focus areas.
Regional Crash Trends and the Risks of Ejection
Regionally, fatal crashes across North Texas fell 14% between 2023 and 2025, dropping from 804 to 691, according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Still, Dallas County recorded the highest traffic fatality rate among Texas' six largest counties in 2025, logging 280 deaths, or 10.54 fatalities per 100,000 residents, per Angel Reyes & Associates.
Under Texas law, driving without a seat belt is a primary enforcement offense, meaning officers can pull drivers over for that violation alone, with fines and court costs up to $200 for unbuckled motorists, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. The same agency's data shows that vehicle occupants ejected in a crash face a fatality rate nearly double that of occupants who suffer serious injuries without being ejected, with 965 unbuckled people killed in Texas traffic crashes in 2025. It remains unknown whether Wldemical was buckled in at the time of the crash, a detail investigators have not yet confirmed.
