Tarrant County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremiah Allen’s first accident investigation was when Ethan Couch, the man known largely as the “affluenza teen,” killed four people and injured 12 others while driving drunk.
He would never be a crash investigator because of what he saw at that scene. On Thursday, Allen said he was wrong. Now an accident investigator with the sheriff’s department, Allen said he has worked around 150 fatal and near-fatal crashes.
And he said they need to be stopped.
To that end, local and state law enforcement leaders said drivers in Tarrant County will start getting pulled over and ticketed more often if they aren’t obeying traffic laws.
Police chiefs from across the county joined Sheriff Bill Waybourn and Texas Department of Public Safety Region Chief Jeremy Sherrod to announce a collaborative effort to reduce road deaths.
The sheriff’s office reported 205 fatal crashes in 2024. As of September this year, that number was at 151 and on course to reach 234, a 14% increase over 2024.
The plan to counter that increase in fatalities will see Tarrant County highways inundated with law enforcement, looking for people speeding, weaving through traffic or violating other traffic laws.
While situations like drunk driving and road rage contribute to the high number of deaths on roads in the county, Waybourn said a small minority of drivers speeding or driving recklessly make up the bulk of those crashes.
“They cause havoc out there on the roadway and we’re going to come and get them,” Waybourn said at the news conference.
Waybourn said the hope is that “Operation Safe City, Dangerous Roads,” as the effort has been dubbed, will first prevent the number of deaths this year from surpassing that of 2024.
Sherrod, who heads up the North Texas region of DPS, said Texas has not “had a deathless day” in nearly 25 years. The last day without a fatal traffic crash was Nov. 7, 2000.
“We gotta do better as Texans,” Sherrod said. “Now we are constantly messaging, ‘slow down, wear your seat belt, pay attention and, most importantly, never drink and drive.”
That messaging hasn’t stopped the number of roadway deaths in Tarrant County from climbing, so Sherrod said DPS is stationing 10 Texas State Troopers in the county.
Those troopers will serve as the Texas Anti-Gang Center while also assisting local law enforcement in enforcing traffic laws. They’ll be starting this weekend, Sherrod said.
“Make no mistake, we will be out looking this weekend for aggressive drivers and intoxicated drivers,” Sherrod said. “So if you’re thinking about getting behind the wheel and being intoxicated, just understand: we’ll be waiting on you.”
Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia said combining resources and expertise from different jurisdictions across Tarrant County and DPS has the potential to turn the tide on traffic fatalities.
“Having a group of chiefs and directors and DPS as well with us in this endeavor is something that's tremendous and amazing to me,” Garcia said.
“To bring collectively all of our gifts and tools and all our amazing people together to ensure that our roadways are safe.”
The effort will likely also include education on social media and in interactions between police and drivers, but more citations and fines are the primary tactic.
It’s something Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said has worked in his city.
Jones said Arlington is down 19% on traffic fatalities this year, even as the rest of the county sees increases. He credits the drop to the increase in traffic stops officers have conducted and the city's Safe Streets Arlington Action Plan, with the expectation of 120,000 stops by the end of the year.
“We still need the public’s help,” Jones said. “We need drivers to slow down, pay attention, drive safely. Speeding and weaving in and out of traffic may save you 10 or 15 minutes, but that’s not worth your life or someone else’s life.”
Got a tip? Email James Hartley at jhartley@kera.org or follow James on X @ByJamesHartley.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
