RICHARDSON, TX (01/28/2015) — A stalled car on Central Expressway (US 75) led to a chain-reaction crash which claimed the life of 51-year-old Wanzhen Zhou, and sent her husband and daughter to the hospital with serious injuries.
Police received several calls around 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday night reporting an abandoned Ford Focus with its hazard lights flashing in the left center lane of northbound U.S. 75, just before the Campbell Road exit. By the time officers had arrived at the scene at around midnight, there had already been a major car accident.
According to reports, a family of three were heading northbound on Central Expressway when their Toyota Corolla slammed into the abandoned car. A gray-colored pickup truck (also headed northbound) then crashed into the family’s car, which sparked a vehicle fire.
Police say the father and 25-year-old daughter were able to escape the car fire, and were taken to Medical Center of Plano with injuries. Unfortunately, 51-year-old Wanzhen Zhou perished. It is unclear at this point if the victim died as a result of the accident, or the resulting fire. Police say no one was in the abandoned vehicle. The driver of the pickup truck was also transported to Methodist Richardson Medical Center with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
The person who left the stalled vehicle in the highway could face criminal charges if he or she took off without helping the victims, or if he or she endangered lives by carelessly abandoning the automobile.
