The Houston motorcycle accident lawyers at Denena & Points note a tragic and needless accident on Saturday that has left our city without one of its well-known Houston artists. On Saturday, 25-year-old Shannon Garcia of Gainesville slammed into the back of a motorcycle stopped at a red light on the Katy Freeway feeder road at Studemont. Garcia ran the red light and crashed into the motorcycle. The motorcycle rider was thrown onto Garcia’s Ford Fusion windshield then onto the ground, while the bike stuck into the front of the car.
The motorcycle rider was Jeremy Choate, a nationally known lighting designer from Houston. Mr. Choate died from massive head trauma received in the rear-end crash. Jeremy Choate leaves behind two daughters and a legion of admirers of his work for theatre and galleries. Mr. Choate had been on his way to a cast party related to one of his artistic creations when the tragic hit and run accident occurred.
Shannon Garcia got out of the car and fled on foot away from the scene of tragic devastation. Our Houston motorcycle accident lawyers point out that Garcia unchivalrously left her boyfriend of two weeks, 29-year-old Robert Maddux, behind in the Ford Fusion. He cooperated with authorities, having personally known in 2008 the difficulty that fleeing the scene of an accident can bring.
Maddux admitted that the pair had been drinking before Garcia ran the red light and collided with Mr. Choate. Maddux said that his driver’s license had been suspended and he had too much to drink. He also said that Garcia had drunk 4 margaritas, some of them at El Tiempo Cantina on Washington Avenue, and was unfit to drive. (Source: Erin Mulvaney and Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle, 8/13/2012)
Maddux and Garcia are believed to be in Gainesville. Houston police are asking anyone with information about their whereabouts to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS or the Houston Police Department hit and run unit at 713-247-4065.
Recently our Houston motorcycle accident lawyers have been writing about the surge in hit and run accidents and the increased penalties for those that flee a scene of a crime rather than take responsibility for an accident. Hit and run accidents take a proportionally greater toll on motorcycle riders and pedestrians than on occupants of enclosed vehicles. Mr. Jeremy Choate’s tragic death, in the midst of preparations for another acclaimed arts event, stands as a sobering example of the heavy toll taken by irresponsible hit and run drivers on our society.
We hope that Shannon Garcia turns herself in for her crime and saves herself from the worst consequences of her accident. Garcia’s identity is known, and she left a witness at the scene to cooperate with authorities. So she has already lost some of the erroneously perceived advantages that other hit and run drivers rely upon. Garcia has been charged with causing an accident resulting in injury or death and with failure to stop and render aid. Learn more about Texas penalties for hit and run driving in the linked article by our Houston motorcycle accident lawyers.