Teen Killed in Car/Truck Crash
A fourteen year-old Grand Prairie girl became the city’s twelfth traffic fatality Sunday afternoon when the car she was a passenger in collided with an 18-wheeler on Highway 161.
Sergeant Eric Hansen, Grand Prairie Police Traffic Division, said the accident occurred at about 1:15 p.m. at northbound Highway 161 and Mayfield Road.
According to witnesses and evidence at the scene, Sergeant Hansen said, a 1999 Nissan driven by Yvonne Wilson, 46, of Grand Prairie was eastbound on Mayfield and failed to stop for the red light at the intersection. The Nissan collided with the trailer of the northbound 18-wheeler that was going through the intersection on a green light.
The car became pinned beneath the trailer. It was dragged approximately 200 feet before the truck was able to stop.
Wilson and her daughter, Tyler Tottress, were trapped in the wreckage and had to be extricated by firefighters.
Wilson was taken by ambulance to Parkland in serious condition.
Tottress, a Freshman at the South Grand Prairie High School Ninth Grade Center, was taken to Parkland Hospital by a CareFlite helicopter. She was pronounced dead on arrival.
Sam Buchmeyer, spokesman for the Grand Prairie ISD, said counselors have been sent to the campus to help the students and staff.
The truck driver, Jeffrey Brigham, 51, of Duncanville, was not injured. A DOT inspection conducted on the tractor-trailer after the collision found no violations.
The collision remains under investigation, Sergeant Hansen said.
