State of Texas: Family’s hospital crash survival story sparks local, state and federal action

AUSTIN (Nexstar) - On Feb. 13, 2024, a driver – with a blood-alcohol level at least three times the legal limit – rammed through the emergency room doors of St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. The crash killed her and seriously injured at least five people, including two toddlers. The next day, a hospital official admitted there were no protective barriers in front of that entrance. As safety concerns lingered, our investigative team began digging into the often-fatal consequences of hospitals lacking proper security measures.

For nearly a year, we took a local breaking news story and – through on-the-ground reporting – developed a nationwide project giving viewers deeper context and sparking calls for local, state and federal reforms of critical infrastructure. Using data, surveillance and witness videos, archival searches, lawsuits, police reports and experts, we showed what happened in Austin is surprisingly common.

Our team traveled to dozens of hospitals across Central Texas, analyzed similar crashes and broadened the scope of our research to reveal more than 300 crashes at medical centers nationwide in the last decade. We also discovered there are no legal requirements, or industry standards, for security barriers – called bollards – that could stop these crashes from happening.

In an exclusive interview with our team, a family hurt in the Austin crash spoke out before filing a $1 million lawsuit against St. David’s. We witnessed bollard crash tests at Texas A&M and shared our findings – and the family’s story – with more than 50 state lawmakers and policymakers in cities where crashes happened. Days after our initial story launched, two Austin City Council members began drafting an ordinance that is expected to receive final approval this week. That measure will require crash-rated bollards at all new hospitals, urgent care clinics and stand-alone emergency rooms built in the city. Existing hospitals must install them during future expansions.

The council member who filed the resolution directly attributed this potential law change to our team’s work, saying it was “such a good job of explaining the problem and providing potential solutions that it would have been stupid for me not to have looked into this as a solution for the city of Austin.”

As more cities like Cedar Park and College Station weigh implementing similar measures after our reporting, State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, is now considering a bill to mandate crash-rated bollards at hospitals across Texas. Congressman Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, also asked the General Services Administration to review all federally owned and leased buildings in the southwestern U.S. to see if bollards are needed. In two letters to the GSA, Doggett cited our “in-depth (and) investigative reporting” as reasons behind his request.

Over 20 ongoing reports, we broke important information: the family’s lawsuit; the autopsy report revealing the driver was heavily intoxicated; Doggett’s GSA letters; St. David’s chief executive officer stepping down; and surveillance videos from inside and outside the hospital showing viewers, for the first time, how this crash occurred – and how experts say it could have been prevented.

The following Nexstar journalists contributed to this reporting and this special episode: Graphic Artist Wendy Gonzalez, Investigative Producer Dalton Huey, Lead Editor Eric Lefenfeld, Investigative Photojournalist Chris Nelson and Executive/Political Producer John Thomas.