DALLAS — Updated at 12:40 p.m. with more information on a second, unrelated crash that officials also responded to after the first one.
One Dallas County Sheriff's deputy is injured and two people are dead following a sequence of two separate, but unrelated, fatal car crashes in Dallas Saturday night and early Sunday morning, officials said.
The first wreck, a three-vehicle crash, happened Saturday night on northbound Interstate 35 near downtown just before coming into downtown near Interstate 30, the Dallas County Sheriff's Office confirmed.
The highway was temporarily shut down while officials worked the scene around 8:45 p.m. Saturday.
Officials did not identify the person who died. The medical examiner will identify the person pending notification of next of kin.
Officials with the Sheriff's Office said a Nissan Murano was broken down on the right-hand shoulder of I-35. A friend showed up to help out.
While the driver of the Nissan was bent down between his vehicle and his friend's vehicle, the driver of a Dodge Challenger veered to the shoulder and rear-ended the Nissan, killing the driver of the Nissan.
First responders transported the passenger in the back-left seat of the Nissan to Baylor in stable condition.
Officials said the driver of the Challenger and the two passengers in the car were all juveniles and will not be identified. The driver and one passenger were taken to a Parkland Memorial Hospital in stable condition, while another was released at the scene to family members. No charges have been filed, officials said.
Later, officials from the sheriff's office were involved in a pileup on I-35 near Oak Lawn after 12 a.m. Sunday while checking up on the crash that happened near downtown.
Two Dallas Sheriff’s deputies were on their way to Parkland to follow up on the driver of the Challenger when they noticed a car stalled in the lanes of northbound I-35 just before the Oak Lawn Avenue exit. The deputies stopped to get the car out of the roadway.
One of the deputies was pushing the stalled car with his squad car and another deputy in another squad car, with emergency lights on, was blocking traffic for them, officials said.
As they were doing that, a Lincoln Towncar that had lost control and was spinning hit the back of the squad car that was blocking traffic. This killed a 17-year-old male passenger in the Towncar and caused two other men in the Towncar, the driver and another passenger, to be ejected. Both men who were ejected landed in different areas away from the car.
One of the men landed underneath the back of the first deputy's car. That car was already stopped and didn't run over the ejected man, officials said.
Those two men were rushed to Parkland in critical condition, officials said.
The deputy who was in the squad car that was hit was taken to Parkland Hospital with leg and neck injuries.
Deputies are still trying to identify the driver and passenger that were taken to Parkland. Officials said the river will likely face charges once he is identified.
Other cars were also involved in the crash, officials said. WFAA has asked for more information on what happened.
This holiday weekend has been deadly for drivers. An off-duty Euless officer was killed in a crash that was caused by an alleged drunk driver in Lake Worth Saturday afternoon, according to police.
Across the metroplex, Fort Worth-based MedStar on Sunday morning released its car crash report for Thanksgiving weekend travel. As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the group responded to 184 crashes since Wednesday. Of those 184 crashes, 10 were rollovers, seven were crashes where a car hit a pedestrian and six crashes resulted in people being ejected from their cars. MedStar pronounced a total of two people dead on scene, and MedStar took 70 crash victims to local hospitals.
Meanwhile, Dallas Fire-Rescue reported a total of 363 different motor vehicle crashes from Thursday through Saturday.
MedStar offers these tips for safe driving:
- Plan ahead and leave early.
- Drivers should be well-rested and alert and give their full attention to the road – avoid distractions.
- Make frequent stops. Rotate drivers on long trips.
- Don't drink and drive.
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