HOUSTON — A suspected drunk driver was arrested after an SUV slammed into a motorcycle head-on during a wrong-way crash on the Southwest Freeway early Friday, according to the Houston Police Department.
The freeway reopened just before 8:30 a.m. heading inbound near Shepherd Drive. According to Houston Transtar, the crash happened at 2 a.m. and was closed for most of the morning rush hour.
Houston police said a motorcycle and an SUV were involved in the crash at Spur 527. Both vehicles caught fire following a head-on collision.
Police said the two people inside the SUV are OK, but the motorcycle rider, a man in his 40s, died at the scene.
"We are unsure, we are going to check cameras along the freeway and also get with METRO to see if we can find some video showing they were going the wrong way downtown," HPD Sgt. Dionne Griffiths said. "At minimum, they entered one of the four exits on the spur. You have Richmond, Travis we will have to comb video footage can validate the evidence on the roadway."
Police said they are not sure where the SUV entered the freeway, but that he was going the wrong way and showed signs of intoxication. He is expected to be charged with intoxication manslaughter.
Check out our interactive traffic map to see this and other trouble spots across the Houston area:
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