Search for driver in crash ongoing

On April 4, 2021 at approximately 6 p.m., Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers were notified of a one-vehicle crash on Sulphur Point Road near the spillway of Lake Wright Patman along the Bowie/ Cass County border. A female passenger, Lucia Mendoza, 29, was pulled from the water to safety and transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A preliminary investigation into the accident indicated that a 2000 GMC Yukon was traveling Southeast on Sulphur Point Road when, for an as yet to be determined reason, the Yukon left the roadway and went through a barrier, into the spillway. According to Shawn Hervey of Texas Game Wardens Law Enforcement Division, the vehicle was found in the water at around 10:24 p.m. When the vehicle was pulled from the water, the driver was not inside.

In response to a question from the Journal-Sun, officials are on the search for a man who may have been driving the vehicle. “This is the first time in 21 years something like this has happened,” Hervey said in a press conference on the afternoon of April 5. Along with the vehicle, clothing was located floating in the water about four miles from the spillway and officials are attempting to determine if it is connected to the spillway accident. Hervey also said the water at the spillway was turned off to search for the man and remains off.

U.S. Corps of Engineers manager, Matt Seavey, said the water was estimated to be about 27 to 30 feet deep when the vehicle went into the lake and that the force of the water may have carried the man upstream. Nearly 100 people from different agencies, including Texas Department of Public Safety, Bowie County Sheriff ’s Office, Cass County Sheriff ’s Office, Texas game wardens and several fire departments worked to recover the vehicle and the driver.

The crash remains under investigation and no additional information is currently available.