HOUSTON -- Houston attorney John O'Quinn was driving nearly twice the speed limit in rainy weather when he crashed into a tree on Allen Parkway last month, killing himself and his longtime employee who normally drove him around, police said Monday.
The crash data computer in O'Quinn's Chevrolet Suburban revealed that he was driving between 76 and 79 mph just before the fatal impact on Oct. 29, said Capt. Bill Staney of the Houston Police Department's Vehicular Crimes Division. The data also showed that O'Quinn never applied his brakes, Staney said.
Crash investigators are still working to validate those numbers and the data, he said.
The speed limit in the 1900 block of Allen Parkway near Taft Street where O'Quinn and his assistant, Johnny Lee Cutliff, died, is 40 mph.
O'Quinn, 68, a recovering alcoholic, had no alcohol, stimulants or illegal drugs in his blood at the time of his death, according to a toxicology report released Monday. Cutliff, 56, who had worked for O'Quinn for about 30 years, also had no alcohol or illicit drugs in his system, reports show.
Autopsies found both men died of multiple blunt force injuries. Neither was wearing a seat belt, police said.
O'Quinn and Cutliff had driven to Hobby Airport that morning so O'Quinn could catch a 7:20 a.m. flight to San Antonio to attend a mediation. But once they arrived at the airport, O'Quinn realized he had forgotten some papers he needed, so the men got in the SUV to hurry back to O'Quinn's house. For reasons still unknown, O'Quinn drove.
Around 8 a.m., O'Quinn lost control of his Suburban on Allen Parkway and slid into a curb. The vehicle became airborne and then hit a grassy median, witnesses have said. The vehicle then bounced into the air again, crossed three lanes of oncoming traffic and crashed into a tree.
Both men died instantly.
Seconds prior to impact, O'Quinn was driving 79 mph on the winding, rain-slicked road, the car's crash data computer revealed. At the moment the Suburban hurtled through the air and became impaled on the tree, the vehicle was traveling at 76 mph, Staney said. No skid marks were found on any of the roadways, reports show.
Those close to O'Quinn have told investigators it was highly unusual for Cutliff not to be driving.
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