Michael Gallitan, Tina Bush Killed in Wichita Falls, TX, Accident
Wichita Falls, TX -- January 13, 2017, Michael Gallitan and Tina Bush were both killed due to an accident where their pickup crashed and caught fire.
The Wichita Falls Police and Fire Departments responded to the accident scene at about 1:00 p.m. It took place at the interchange of I-44 and US Highway 287.
According to preliminary accident investigations, 44-year-old Gallitan and 39-year-old Bush were both occupants of a red pickup traveling down the highway. For reasons that have yet to be determined, the vehicle lost control and went off the roadway.
The pickup crashed into a concrete pillar at the US 287 overpass, and the pickup immediately caught fire. The two victims could not escape the vehicle, and they died at the scene of the accident.
At this time, investigators have yet to suggest what factors caused the accident. Their investigations are ongoing.
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Commentary
Whenever I see an accident like this, single-vehicle with few details, I know that there are a lot of people who will read early reports and automatically assume the driver is at fault. Our firm has handled enough single-vehicle accidents that I know from experience how unfair this is to victims and their families. Any conclusions made before all of the facts are uncovered do nothing but make an already tough situation that much harder for those affected.
One of the reasons people do this is simply because single-vehicle accidents are commonly caused by driver negligence--texting, speeding, intoxication, falling asleep at the wheel, that sort of thing. However, just because an answer is common does not mean that it's correct. There are plenty of factors beyond a driver's control that can cause an accident.
These factors can include tire blowouts, poor road conditions, debris in the road, mechanical failures, and even other drivers causing the vehicle to lose control before leaving the scene. These are just a few, and they are often unforeseeable and leave drivers with little to no time to react. However, because these factors aren't exactly common, people tend to push them aside. Instead, they fill in missing information with their own speculation based on what they typically see happen in these kinds of accidents.
The best way to approach any accident is to withhold any judgements until all of the facts come out. Just because a lot of single-vehicle accidents are caused by the driver doesn't mean they all are. Applying generalizations to accidents with missing information doesn't do anyone any good. Only once all of the facts are uncovered can victims and their families move forward to a resolution.
--Grossman Law Offices
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