Two still critical after last week's wreck in Bridgeport

Published Thursday, May 8, 2008

By Chris Butler

Two of the five people who were critically injured in a major traffic accident in Bridgeport last week remain in critical condition at a Fort Worth hospital.

Marcos Salvador Amezcua, 34, of Fort Worth, and Juan Miguel Torres, 29, of Bernice, La., were still in critical condition in the ICU ward Tuesday at John Peter Smith, said Stacy Mensik, hospital spokeswoman.

Five people were injured in the accident last week near the Devon Gas Plant in Bridgeport.

Bridgeport police did not release the name of the Decatur man they believe is responsible for the accident. The Messenger sent a written request asking for the man's name on Tuesday, citing the Texas Public Information Act, but Bridgeport police did not respond before press time.

The man may face manslaughter charges if anyone dies because of what happened.

Police said four people were traveling westbound in a car when the driver, Jose Gabriel Ortiz, 34, from Irving, tried to turn left from U.S. 380 into the gas plant, where police said the men worked, when a pickup hit them from behind. The car carrying the four men swerved into another lane as a result of the impact and hit an eastbound vehicle driven by Ricky Allen Lehman, 56, of Jacksboro, head on, Hughes said.

The four men in the car, including Amezcua and Torres, were flown to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

Ortiz was in fair condition at JPS last week, and JPS staff did not have any information about his current condition, Mensik said. A fourth passenger, Santos Cervantes Garcia, 56, no address given, was in good condition at JPS, said Officer Wesley Hughes, spokesman for the Bridgeport police, last week.

Lehman, meanwhile, was taken to Wise Regional Health System with minor chest pains related to the deployment of his air bag and was released. The driver of the pickup, the man who police believe caused the accident, was not injured, Hughes added.

Police learned that video surveillance from the gas plant captured the accident in its entirety, Hughes said.