Woman killed in Fort Worth bus stop crash was ‘a firecracker,’ her sons say
Inez Caldwell was highly intelligent, her sons said.
She had a bachelor’s degree in political science from Texas Wesleyan University. She loved Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. And on July 19, Caldwell was killed when a pickup truck plowed through the Fort Worth bus stop where she was waiting in the 5500 block of East Lancaster Avenue. She was 68.
Her sons, Cordell and Anthony White, want their mother to be remembered as a firecracker who had a way with words, the brothers told the Star-Telegram.
The first time Caldwell tried to teach Cordell how to drive a stick shift, she got frustrated with him. He couldn’t seem to get the car out of first gear, and the more frustrated his mother got, the funnier he thought the situation was, Cordell said. Eventually, he did hit a breakthrough and got the car going.
“She was just like, ‘Lord, hallelujah, you got the car out of first gear,’” Cordell laughed.
On another memorable occasion, teenage Cordell had gone out to get fast food with his mother, he said. By the time they arrived home, he had already eaten all of the french fries in the bag, and Inez was furious.
Fort Worth police arrested two men, 24-year-old Detavius Khalil Hayes and 22-year-old Deovion Deauntae Alexander, in connection with the crash that killed Caldwell and injured two others, according to police records. Hayes and Alexander are each charged with one count of collision involving death.
Traffic investigators determined that the two drivers were speeding when one of them lost control, according to a police statement. That driver hit the bus stop and then slammed into a convenience store, police said.
Neither man stopped at or returned to the scene to render aid to Caldwell after the crash, according to criminal complaints filed against them in Tarrant County district court. They are being held in the Tarrant County Jail with bond set at $75,000.
Caldwell was at the bus stop that day because she had to go and handle personal business, Anthony and Cordell White said. She occasionally traveled by bus when she needed to run an errand in town, and frequented a nearby taco restaurant on East Lancaster. Employees of the restaurant, Tacos La Cuesta Hidalguense, witnessed the crash and went to try to help Caldwell, the employees told WFAA-TV.
“Everybody on this street is for the community,” restaurant employee Jesus Mendoza said. “You want to cry. You’re mad. It’s a life that got lost for something that shouldn’t have happened.”
A GoFundMe for Caldwell’s funeral services has raised just over $1,300 of its $6,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.
