A driver is dead after a speeding SUV blew through a red light at Elam Road and South Buckner Boulevard in southeast Dallas, slamming into his Chevrolet Camaro and sending it crashing off the road into a fence around a construction site. The SUV driver bailed out and ran before officers arrived, leaving investigators to review surveillance footage in an effort to identify the driver.
Dallas police officers responded to the two-vehicle crash at the intersection on Sunday, according to FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth. Investigators said a Ford SUV was traveling westbound on Elam Road at a high rate of speed when it ran the red light and struck the southbound Camaro. The impact was violent enough to propel the Camaro off the roadway and into the fence.
The Camaro's lone occupant, an adult man, suffered critical injuries in the crash. Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedics rushed him to a local hospital, where he died shortly after arriving, per the station's report. His identity has not been released, as police work to notify his next of kin.
Driver Ran Before Officers Could Arrive
The SUV driver did not stick around. According to the same account, that driver left the scene on foot before officers reached the intersection, abandoning the vehicle involved in the deadly crash. Dallas police's vehicular crimes unit took over the scene, closing the intersection for several hours to collect evidence and review surveillance footage in hopes of identifying the person responsible.
The case echoes a string of recent hit-and-run crashes along the same corridor. Just 10 days earlier, on October 22, a separate fatal hit-and-run occurred near Buckner and Elam in Pleasant Grove. Dallas police later released surveillance photos of an SUV they believed was involved. Investigators in that case identified the victim as Antonette Logan and said she was struck by a maroon Chevrolet Trax, likely a 2014 to 2016 model, whose driver fled east on Elam Road and had not been located.
A Corridor Already Flagged for Danger
South Buckner Boulevard has drawn repeated safety concerns well before this latest crash. A Dallas tire-shop owner told nbcdfw.com that he has witnessed crashes or their aftermath nearly every week along the stretch between Forney Road and Military Parkway, and his own surveillance cameras once captured a silver sports car being struck by a dark-colored SUV turning left onto Military Parkway. The Texas Department of Transportation reported 47 crashes between Forney and Scyene roads that year, resulting in nearly 80 injuries, nbcdfw.com reported.
The Buckner Boulevard and Military Parkway area has been identified as a top priority in Dallas' Vision Zero Action Plan, and TxDOT's work was underway to install five new traffic signals along the stretch by the following year, per the outlet. In July, a comparable crash near the same Buckner and Elam intersection killed pedestrian Michael Turner just after 10:30 p.m., with surveillance video showing a car striking him as he crossed the street and tossing him several feet before the driver kept going, according to a separate nbcdfw.com report.
Dallas' Vision Zero Analysis
Dallas City Hall's Vision Zero data analysis covers the period from 2015 through 2019.
No arrest or identification of the fleeing driver has been announced. Dallas police have not released the Camaro driver's identity, and the investigation into Sunday's crash remains open as detectives continue reviewing footage from the area.
