FORT WORTH -- A Trimble Tech High School senior may have purchased alcohol during his lunch break, hours before a crash that killed him and a 15-year-old passenger, an official with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said Tuesday.
TABC agents are investigating Friday's fatal crash as well as another that occurred early Monday. In the latter accident, two men were killed in a wrong-way wreck on MLK Freeway after attending a birthday party in downtown Fort Worth.Agents began an investigation of the Friday crash after being notified by police, who had obtained statements from other students, Maj. Charlie Cloud of the TABC said. The wreck killed freshman Jeanette Lopez, 15, and senior Ivan Torres, 17, who was driving.Lopez was riding home from school with Torres when his truck veered into northbound lanes of Mitchell Boulevard and collided head-on with a sport utility vehicle about 3:45 p.m. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene; Torres died Saturday.Another passenger, freshman Berenice Lerma, 15, was critically injured, police have said.Four people in the SUV suffered minor injuries.Fort Worth police Sgt. Cynthia Blake said Tuesday that Torres was weaving in and out of southbound lanes when his truck veered into the SUV near Glen Garden Drive South.Lopez’s death has been ruled a homicide, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website. Torres' death was ruled an accident. “We are waiting for toxicology results on him, but in the meantime, we’re looking into the case,” Cloud said.Blake said police did not find alcohol containers in Torres' truck.Cloud said agents were tracking down where Torres may have purchased alcohol. The legal drinking age in Texas is 21.In the Monday wreck, Eric Jordan, 25, and Christopher Brookins, 24, were pronounced dead within minutes of each other after their southbound Cadillac slammed head-on into a tow truck in the northbound lanes about 2:15 a.m.The collision was in the 600 block of U.S. 287 near Riverside Drive, according to the medical examiner’s website.Witnesses said the two men had left the Tru Lounge, a downtown Fort Worth club, just before the wreck. Jordan’s birthday was Monday, according to the medical examiner’s website.The tow truck driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of a broken leg, police reported.Cloud said the TABC will look at credit-card receipts and security video and will interview witnesses to determine a timeline and whether the driver was over-served at the bar."We’re trying to prove whether somebody at a bar either acted inappropriately or appropriately," Cloud said. "It’s our job to prove it either way."If violations are confirmed, the range of punishment for the store and the bar could range from fines to cancellation of liquor permits. Staff writer Mitch Mitchell contributed to this report.Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763Twitter: @stcrime
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