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Friday 2 December 2011

Dallas street racing

Dallas, Texas —Emil Whittle's truck was one of four vehicles hit after the driver of a BMW lost control of his car, crossed the median and crashed into oncoming traffic.


"I've never seen a BMW take flight like that. It had to be moving pretty fast to do what it did the way it spun around", Whittle said.


It was a chaotic scene Tuesday night along Northwest Highway near Shady Brook Lane in North Dallas.


Sixteen year old Colin Stone was behind the wheel of the BMW. Dallas Police say he was street racing another BMW when stone hit a puddle in the road and crashed.


"The BMW when it came across the median from what I see it looked like it clipped another truck first. But it was completely sideways and by the time it hit the car in front of me, it was backwards. That car pushed into me and then burst into, the BMW burst into flames", Whittle said.


Stone died at the scene.


Police say both BMW's were going well over 100 miles an hour on the busy roadway.


"He started spinning and he couldn't stop. He tried to stop but that's when he hit the truck and he started hitting the rest of the cars after he started spinning", said Khadija Walker who witnessed the crash.


At least three other people in a white Volvo where hurt, but their injuries are not believed to be life threatening.


The other BMW involved the crash did not stop to help the victims.


"The other car made it through the light but he didn't because he started spinning after he hit the puddle of water", Walker said.


Police say the other driver could face criminal charges when caught.


Police believe Stone may have been racing with another vehicle for more than a mile while driving westbound on Northwest Highway, starting at the intersection of Abrams Road. The crash occurred near the intersection of Northwest Highway and Shady Brook.


Stone's BMW burst into flames, killing the Highland Park teen instantly. He had attended school at Cistercian Prep in Irving.
The driver Stone was racing is also believed to be a teen in an older-model, dark BMW. Sources tell News 8 the drivers knew each other from competing as swimmers at the Knights of Columbus pool, also on Northwest Highway. The teens were apparently in a swimming club and took their competition on to the road.
The other racer is still at large. Street racing that causes a death is a second degree felony. Police are using stoplight footage to track down the other driver.
Two other people in the crash had to be rushed to the hospital. Both are expected to be okay.
"[Stone] brushed up against a pickup truck going the opposite direction, and then he spun off that vehicle and rotated into an early-model Volvo," said Sgt. Fred Katani of the Dallas police. "And when you look at the pictures of the vehicle, it's a miracle that no one was seriously injured in that Volvo."
That Volvo carried three passengers, but none were hospitalized.


Algae Vazquez, who has worked for the last six years at a restaurant along that stretch of Northwest Highway, said street racing is a problem in that area. She said, typically, it is on weekends, not weeknights.


She said she avoids Northwest Highway on weekends altogether because that is when cars and motorcycles street race and the drivers are usually younger ones.


Witnesses told police two BMWs were racing westbound on Northwest Highway after 8:30 p.m. They stopped at several red light and start again until one of the cars crashed near Shady Brook Lane.
The green BMW that 16-year-old Colin Stone was driving hit the median, flew into oncoming traffic and burst into flames. He died at the scene.
The University Park teen was on the Cistercian High School swimming team and had just left practice in east Dallas.
The other BMW involved did not stop. Police are investigating the possibility that the driver knew Stone.
Claire Wilhite was driving behind the two cars. She and many other drivers did stop to try to help the teenager and those in the five other cars involved in the crash.
“There was nothing that you could do, and people were really trying. I would like the family to know that there were so many people standing around and screaming, trying to help. But it just was so fast,” she said.
Several other drivers who were hit by the BMW had to be rescued using the Jaws of Life. Three were taken to the hospital, but no one has life-threatening injuries.

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