HOUSTON, Texas – A passenger was killed and a driver critically injured in Houston Saturday morning after their vehicle flew off a highway overpass, Houston Police said.
The crash occurred around 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the 1900 block of Pierce Street, near downtown Houston.
Houston Police said the vehicle was driving northbound on I-45 at a high rate of speed when it exited for SH 288, flew off the overpass, fell over 100 feet, and crashed into a tree and some guide lines before hitting the ground and rolling several times.
The passenger was pronounced dead. The driver was transported to Memorial Hermann at the Texas Medical Center in critical condition.
Hospital staff alerted authorities that the driver was intoxicated at the time of the crash, police said.
The District Attorney’s Office accepted charges of intoxication manslaughter, said Sean Teare, head of the District Attorney’s Vehicular Crimes division.
During the investigation, two vehicles drove through the traffic barricades blocking the scene. At least one of those drivers is suspected of driving while intoxicated, police said.