By Vanesa Brashier, editor@bluebonnetnews.com
A 31-year-old Houston man, Kenneth Trevon Cleaver, was critically injured around 12:46 a.m. Thursday when his vehicle struck the gas pumps at the Brookshire Brothers fueling station on US 90 in Dayton.
“Right now all we know is that a male subject was driving west on US 90. He crossed the center lane and westbound lane before crashing into the gas pumps,” said Patrol Officer David Meyers with the Dayton Police Department.
The impact sheared off the gas pump and tossed it 75-100 feet away, over other nearby pumps. The man’s car was lifted off the ground and came to rest on a support column, striking the building where attendants accept fuel payments during regular business hours.
According to Meyers, the gas pump momentarily ignited. A soft drink vending machine was flipped on its side and a small fire broke out under the machine. Firefighters used fire extinguishers to put out the fire on the machine.
Cleaver was extricated from his mangled 2014 Buick Lacrosse by Dayton firefighters using the jaws of life. Meyers said the crash victim – the sole person in the vehicle – was unconscious and unresponsive, but was breathing when Liberty County EMS transported him by ground ambulance to Crosby, where a LifeFlight helicopter was standing by to carry him to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation, but Meyers said that speed is likely a factor.
