Three die in MVA; 18-year-old charged

A PHI Air Medical helicopter lifts off at FM 1314 and South Loop 336 to transport one person injured in a multiple-vehicle wreck Friday morning. Three people were killed and two injured in the wreck, Conroe Police Sgt. Bob Berry said.

By Nancy Flake
Updated: 10.16.09
An 18-year-old East Montgomery County man is in jail and charged with three counts of manslaughter following a Friday morning multi-vehicle wreck at FM 1314 and South Loop 336 that killed three people in one car.

Casey McKinley was arrested after he was released from a local hospital for treatment of the injuries he suffered in the wreck, which occurred around 10:15 a.m.

McKinley, driving a Dodge Dually pickup, was eastbound on South Loop 336, allegedly at a high rate of speed, Conroe Police Department Sgt. Bob Berry said. Witnesses told police the truck was weaving in and out of traffic, he said, and McKinley allegedly failed to stop at the red light where the roads intersect.

His truck allegedly struck a Mazda passenger car traveling north on FM 1314 and driven by Craig Steven Rector, 50, of Splendora. Rector and his passengers, Felicia Hicks, 20, and Freedom Fitch, 24, also of Splendora, were killed, a Conroe Police press release stated.

At least one person had to be cut out of the Mazda with the Jaws of Life, Berry said. Hicks and Fitch were flown by PHI Air Medical helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston’s Texas Medical Center.

The car driven by Rector, which was allegedly T-boned by McKinley’s truck, slid east into traffic on South Loop 336, Berry said, where it hit two other vehicles.

Rector is Hicks’ stepfather, said a neighbor, who did not want to be identified. Hicks and Fitch have a young child, the neighbor said.

The driver of one of the other vehicles, which was traveling east on South Loop 336, was transported by ground ambulance to a local hospital, Berry said. The driver of the fourth vehicle was not injured.

McKinley was treated at the hospital and immediately arrested after he was released, Berry said.

“The (Montgomery County) District Attorney’s Office accepted charges on the scene,” Berry said. “We had officers waiting at the hospital; and when he (McKinley) was released, he was handcuffed and taken to jail.”

McKinley, a student at the University of Texas-Galveston, was home running errands, said Tay Bond, his attorney. He is “devastated mentally by the accident.”

“When I met with him, he was extremely somber and overwhelmed by the events,” Bond said. “His family understands three other families have been affected much more than they have. The concern is as deep for the other families as it is for their son.

“It’s absolutely a tragic event.”


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