Teen Killed In 5-Car North Austin Wreck
The incident occurred on Thursday at the intersection of Collinfield Drive and West Rundberg Lane left a 19-year-old driver dead.
Jan 31, 2020 5:29 pm CT
AUSTIN, TX — Police on Friday identified the teenager who died this week in a five-vehicle crash this week.
The incident occurred Thursday, Jan. 29, at around 10 am. at the intersection of Collinfield Drive and West Rundberg Lane. A preliminary police investigation found the traffic signal lights at the intersection were inoperable due to a power outage in the area.
Amid the outage, a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado was traveling eastbound along the intersection of West Rundberg Lane and Collinfield Drive. Simultaneously, a 1999 Toyota Camry was traveling southbound in the 1000 block of Mearns Meadow Blvd. poised to turn eastbound onto the 1000 block of W. Rundberg Lane, police wrote in an advisory.
Moreover, a 2015 Buick LaCrosse was traveling northbound in the 9300 block of Collinfield Drive approaching the intersection with West Rundberg Lane. A 2004 Ford Expedition was stopped facing westbound at the intersection of West Rundberg Lane and Collinfield Drive as a 2018 Ford Mustang was pulling up behind the Mustang, preparing to stop. The Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Camry and Buick LaCrosse entered the intersection at the same time.
The Chevrolet Silverado collided into the driver's side of the Buick LaCrosse and into the front of the Toyota Camry. Debris from the crash damaged the Ford Expedition and after the initial crash, the Buick Lacrosse collided into the Ford Mustang.
Two of the occupants of the Chevrolet Silverado and two of the occupants of the Toyota Camry were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Buick LaCrosse was transported to Dell-Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas where he died as a result of his injuries at 10:54 a.m. Police identified the driver as 19-year-old Javier Elijah Garcia.
Police do not believe that driver impairment, weather or road conditions were factors in the crash. The cause of the power outage for the signal lights is unknown, but believed to have been a contributing factor in the crash. In their press advisory, police took the time to remind drivers to treat non-working traffic signals as they would four-way stops.
The incident marked the 11th fatal traffic crash in Austin so far this year, police said, resulting in 11 fatalities this year. At this time in 2019, police added, there were four traffic fatalities.