Car, Motorcycle Crash Sends Two to Hospitals

Two Mineola people were taken to separate hospitals after a motorcycle smashed into a car on Highway 80 Monday night.

According to Department of Public Safety Trooper Tommy Barrett, the accident happened at about 7:48 p.m. on Highway 80 west of Mineola in front of County Road 2841. A Kawasaki Ninja 600 motorcycle was travelling westbound on 80 when a four-door Concordia pulled out from a driveway. The motorcyclist, Cody Hamrick, 19, was going about 50 or 55 miles per hour and was unable to stop. He slammed into the back left door of the car with so much force it spun the car. Hamrick was wearing a helmet but was thrown many yards away from the crushed motorcycle.

Hamrick suffered from a broken leg and was taken by emergency helicopter to East Texas Medical Center Hospital in Tyler. The driver of the Concordia, Patricia Hare, 60, of Mineola, was taken by ambulance to ETMC in Quitman.

It is not the first time Hamrick was involved in a vehicular accident. A few years ago, he had been a passenger in a fatal car crash halfway between Mineola and Grand Saline. He works in Pennsylvania in the oilfield but had flown home Monday morning.

Barrett said he intended to issue a ticket for failure to yield the right-of-way to Hare.