Lewisville, Texas — 21-year-old Kayla Alejandra Gawalek was killed early Saturday morning (12/07/2013) when her pickup truck lost control on an icy highway and plunged into Lake Lewisville.
Kayla Gawalek was on her way to work Saturday morning, traveling northbound on I-35E, when she lost control of her truck on the ice-covered Lake Lewisville bridge. According to a witness, Gawalek’s gray 2007 Nissan Frontier pickup truck hit & drove over the railing, and plunged into the 50-degree water at about 3:50 a.m. Due to the severe weather Ms. Gawalek had told her sister that she would be leaving her Lewisville residence extra early in order to be at work by 5:00 a.m. She was employed by Safran Labinal (a company that does wiring for the aerospace industry) in Denton, TX.
Lewisville Fire Department divers—with the help of a crane—pulled the vehicle from the lake at about 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Kayla Gawalek was a former Lewisville High School student, and current North Central Texas College student. Isabel Gawalek, Kayla’s mother, was quoted as saying “I wish they would do something whenever this kind of weather occurs for them to be more cautious or to think there’s going to be an accident. Don’t wait until it happens… do something about it. Now she’s gone. She’s gone. I didn’t get to say goodbye to her.”
This was an absolute tragedy, and I couldn’t agree more with Ms. Isabel Gawalek. TxDOT has been criticized many times in the past for their insufficient preventative measures when it comes to North Texas ice storms. Even though they responded this year by treating some roads ahead of the big storm, I-35 in Denton County appeared to be in much poorer condition than surrounding areas.
Funeral services for Ms. Kayla Gawalek are set for Thursday, December 12th, 2013.
