James Mutchler, Ler Htoo Killed, 1 Injured in Car Accident on Highway 172 in Jackson County, TX
UPDATE (February 16, 2023): Additional information from the authorities identified the victims killed in the crash as 67-year-old James Mutchler and 19-year-old Ler Htoo. They said that Htoo was northbound in an Altima while Mutchler was in a southbound Ford F-150 when the vehicles collided head on. The cause of the crash cannot be confirmed at this time.
Jackson County, TX -- December 21, 2022, two people were killed and one other was injured after a car accident along Highway 172.
Initial reports indicated that the incident happened just outside of La Ward at around 3:50 p.m. It appears an SUV and a pickup somehow collided head-on. The factors leading up to that collision are still unclear. Two people were pronounced deceased while a third was taken to a hospital in Houston.
With serious details like that, I'm a bit surprised not to see more information about this awful event. Unfortunately, every year, all of these serious wrecks happen right around the holidays. Rarely do they get the follow up they deserve. That can be due to news stations simply moving on after the break or perhaps authorities being so busy they just let things slip through the cracks.
Put simply, a family affected by a fatal collision at least deserves to know they're getting the full story. That's true enough for any serious head-on collision, let alone one as deadly as this one. If the victims and families are getting the same details the public is, they're not getting the answers they deserve. There may need to be efforts from more thorough independent investigators to ensure nothing important goes overlooked.
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