|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
by BRIAN STOLER THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF Police filed criminal charges last week against the driver of the truck that hit two vans carrying members of Rice's debate team on Interstate 45 last month. The Harris County Sheriff's Office issued a warrant April 7 for the arrest of the driver, 43-year-old Martin Dean Runnells of Katy, but he was not yet in police custody as of Wednesday afternoon. Runnells faces charges of criminally negligent homicide for the March 13 crash that killed Baker College freshman Daniel Hen-ning and injured other members of the George R. Brown Forensics Society. A conviction for negligent homicide, a state jail felony, carries a sentence of 180 days to two years of confinement in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The truck was traveling no less than 79 miles per hour when it impacted the first van, according to the investigation by the sheriff's traffic division. The speed limit at the site of the crash, which occured in a construction zone, was 55 mph. Traffic Division Lt. John Denholm said a vehicle's speed before hitting another vehicle is an important part of determining whether charges will be filed. "When you're driving too fast in a construction zone, that's construed as negligence quite often," Denholm said. Capt. Don McWilliams from the sheriff's office said detectives from the fugitive warrant division were looking for Runnells. "It's just a matter of time," he said. "We will find him." The police took over three weeks to file charges against Runnells because investigations like this one often take a long time to complete. "We try to get it done right the first time, and sometimes that takes two or three weeks," Denholm said. The area where the accident occurred is a particularly hazardous stretch of the interstate, Denholm said. Denholm said the highway becomes even more unsafe when people drive too fast. "People don't realize that speed is just as dangerous as alcohol," he said. - back - |
|
|
Search the Thresher pages:
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
