Brazoria County, TX — December 9, 2024, Joy Osuji, Tunecha Howard, and two others were injured following an alleged drunk driver accident at 8:25 p.m. on TX-288.

Preliminary details about the accident say that it happened in the area of Highway 288 and Schovajsa Road/F.M. 60.

According to officials, 42-year-old Joy Osuji and two others were in a Hyundai Sonata going southbound on the highway. 44-year-old Tunecha Howard was in a Ford Taurus also going southbound. It appears a Jeep Cherokee was on the wrong side of the road going northbound. As a result, it crashed into Osuji and Howard's vehicles.

Due to the collision, Joy Osuji and the two others in the Hyundai had serious injuries. Tunecha Howard reportedly had minor injuries. The driver of the Jeep was accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, with authorities claiming the driver was around three times the legal limit. That driver was recommended to face multiple charges, including DWI.

Commentary

With authorities recommending charges here, folks may be too quick to assume this all is open-and-shut. But the fact this driver was allegedly three times the legal limit brings up a serious concern: Was the driver unlawfully over-served by an alcohol provider? If so, that alcohol provider may also be responsible for this accident.

Simply put, Texas law says bars and other venues can be responsible if they serve someone who is obviously intoxicated. Doing so exposes them to potential criminal investigations, administrative fines or penalties, and even liability for the injuries resulting from the intoxication. Too often, though, these negligent alcohol providers escape consequences altogether.

I've handled hundreds of cases against negligent alcohol providers. I can't count how many times authorities simply charged the drunk driver, then moved on without a second thought. I've even had cases where we gathered evidence, handed it over to authorities on a silver platter, and they still failed to take action on their own. Sometimes, we're the only ones going after these alcohol providers and putting them on the straight-and-narrow. Once we do, families are often left wondering why authorities would let those negligent establishments get away with their behavior.

To be clear, authorities handling this accident may have been more thorough than usual, or maybe there were no negligent alcohol providers involved in this crash. But when someone is drunk enough to get on the wrong side of the road, it's often a huge red flag that someone helped them get to that point. At the very least, it's important to know that authorities considered the possibility there's an accomplice here who needs to be held accountable. Otherwise, they risk letting someone get away with actions that nearly resulted in people getting killed.