Police: Driver intentionally caused fatal crash in Dallas
DALLAS - Witness accounts helped police piece together a fiery crash that killed two people in West Dallas Tuesday night.
Police say the driver, 36-year-old Shamyia Walton caused the crash intentionally. But investigators do not think she was specifically targeting 62-year-old Thoris Hutchison.
Neighbors and people who live nearby rushed to try and save everyone they could. Witnesses who saw the crash aftermath and neighbors tried to help those in both vehicles. One neighbor grabbed a fire extinguisher to put out the flames from the crash. but they couldn't save Walton or Hutchinson.
Cell phone video taken by witnesses show flames engulfing a red pickup truck just minutes after the deadly crash on Canada Drive.
Valerie Villarreal and her cousin were among the neighbors and passers-by who stopped to help the crash victims in the truck and a Chevy Equinox SUV.
“As soon as we reached the equinox, he was yelling ‘Help! Help!’” she recalled.
Dallas police say Walton intentionally drove her Equinox with a passenger inside the wrong way down Canada Drive. She crashed into the red truck with Hutchinson and his wife, Shirley, inside.
All four people involved had to be pulled from the vehicles by witnesses or first responders. Walton and Hutchinson died from the crash.
Dallas detectives would not elaborate on how they know Walton was intentionally driving on the wrong side of the road. But it's believed her passenger shared that information with them.
Sandy Rodriguez lives nearby the Hutchinsons who were only a couple blocks from their home when the crash happened.
“If you need them, they're a call away,” Rodriguez said. “She's a real good lady. He was a wonderful man, good man. We called him ‘Pops.’”
Neighbors and witnesses returned to the crash site Wednesday to pay their respects and leave a token of remembrance to the lives lost.
Both survivors were taken to the hospital in unknown condition. Hutchinson's wife is still in the hospital but is expected to recover.