Deadly Wrong-Way Crash Closes State Highway
SOUTHLAKE (CBSDFW.COM) - Police are investigating a fatal wrong-way crash in Southlake.
The incident happened just after 1:30 a.m. on State Highway 114, near Kimball Avenue.
The driver of a white-colored, Crown Victoria was traveling the wrong way on Highway 114, heading east in the westbound lanes.
It wasn't long before other drivers started making emergency calls. Police said there were officers in the area, but at one point the driver, later identified as Cristian Leos, was traveling at more than 100 mph.
"They got the call from dispatch saying that witnesses reported someone had gotten on Highway 114 going the wrong way and so they turned around and they got up to him [the driver] very quickly," said Kim Leach, with the Southlake Department of Public Safety. "But as soon they got to him, he sped up and he crashed right afterwards."
Police say Leos and an 18-year-old male passenger were in the car when it hit a concrete embankment and flipped over. The passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. It was several hours before the victim's body could be removed from the wreckage.
Leos was taken by air ambulance to John Peter Smith Hospital and was later booked into the Keller Jail, charged with Intoxication Manslaughter.
Traffic in both directions was shut down for a short time but the eastbound lanes of Highway 114 were quickly reopened. It wasn't until just before 9 a.m. that the crash scene was cleared and the westbound lanes of SH 114 reopened.
Investigators are looking into whether alcohol may have been involved in the crash.
