Lee County, TX — September 14, 2025, Laurian Johnson was killed in an alleged drunk driver accident at about 6:10 p.m. on U.S. Route 290 west of Giddings.

A preliminary accident report indicates that an eastbound 2023 Ford Edge and a westbound 2016 Hyundai Veloster collided near Private Road 2908.

Ford driver Laurian Johnson, 66, was seriously injured in the crash, according to the report. She died on September 20.

The Hyundai driver died at the scene, the report states. He was intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Lee County crash at this time.

Commentary

When I read about incidents like this one, what stands out to me isn’t just what happened, but what’s missing from the conversation, especially when intoxication is involved. In this case, reports say one of the drivers was under the influence, and as a result, a woman who was simply going about her day suffered injuries that ultimately claimed her life. That kind of loss is immeasurable. But beyond the immediate facts, it’s worth asking: how did an intoxicated driver end up on the road in the first place?

One of the most important but often overlooked questions in situations like this is, “Where did the driver get their alcohol?” In Texas, if a bar, restaurant or other alcohol provider overserves a patron who’s already clearly intoxicated, and that patron goes on to cause a crash, the provider may share responsibility under our state’s dram shop laws. It’s not always obvious, but there may be more to this story than people realize.

If authorities are correct that intoxication played a role, that opens the door to further questions about whether the driver was served by someone who should have known better. Was this someone who left a bar when they were visibly impaired? Did anyone step in, or fail to? These are the kinds of questions dram shop law is built to answer, and they matter not just for accountability, but for prevention.

At the end of the day, drunk driving crashes don’t happen in a vacuum. When an intoxicated person causes harm, it’s important to look beyond the driver’s actions and examine whether others enabled that behavior. Texas law offers a way for families to do just that, though many people don’t realize those tools are available to them.

Here are three important takeaways:

• Texas law allows injured people and their families to investigate whether an alcohol provider overserved the driver involved in a crash.
• Understanding where and how someone became intoxicated is a crucial piece of the puzzle, but it often goes unexamined without legal action.
• Dram shop claims are an accountability tool many people have never heard of, but they exist for exactly these kinds of situations.