'He's not stopping!' KXAN investigation leads to new look at crosswalk crash, Texas law

DALLAS (KXAN) — She grabbed Rudy's leash. 

He knew instantly it was time for their morning walk — something Krystal Morris did every day before work. 

"He was jumping up at me and ready to go," she said of her rescue pup.

She remembers the warm June morning and clear blue sky — the calmness of her eclectic neighborhood tucked away in east Dallas away from the hustle and bustle of downtown.

"I was excited, because that day I was gonna get to go to a conference for women," Morris explained, smiling.

As she made her way back to her apartment, she crossed a four-way stop. The next few moments were chaotic. 

She dropped the leash. 

"He's not stopping! He's not stopping," Morris remembers repeating in her head. "I threw my hands up and I screamed!"

Police body camera video, which Morris shared with KXAN investigators, showed the driver explaining to an officer what happened in that crosswalk. 

"It was the sun," he said. "I didn't see her."

In the crash report, police explained that the driver struck Morris with his white pickup in June 2022 — almost a year after Texas passed a new law making it a crime to kill or hurt someone in a crosswalk.

Statewide crosswalk law 

Morris was rushed to the hospital. She said her injuries included a skull fracture, brain bleed and severe concussion. She explained she had to have weeks of speech and physical therapy. 

"I had issues with my — with my language," she said. "I also struggled with feeling very dizzy, often."

She said she still has symptoms more than 2 years after being injured.

The crash report said the driver was issued a citation for driving without a license on that day but no other charges followed. Morris wondered why, especially since there was now a law which could hold drivers accountable. KXAN tried to reach the driver who struck Morris, but he has not responded to phone and text messages. We are not naming him because charges have not been filed.

The crosswalk law went into effect almost three years ago and requires drivers to stop for a pedestrian or cyclist in a crosswalk. Drivers who violate the law could face anywhere from a Class C misdemeanor traffic violation to a state jail felony if there's serious injury or death. 

Data from the Department of Public Safety shows since the implementation of the law in September 2021, there have been 34 arrests across Texas — with seven leading to convictions. 

One of those cases was in Travis County. This summer, KXAN shared the case of an Austin driver sentenced to state jail after hitting and killing a person crossing the street.

"The light was green ... wasn't on my phone or nothing just driving me and my girlfriend," Todre Anderson told a 911 dispatcher. "I look down and I look up and there is a man just crossing the street and I can barely have time to move and I hit him and my windshield is broke and he is just passed out."

Court documents portray a different story. Police said Anderson ran a red light and was looking at his cell phone when he hit and killed the pedestrian who had the walk sign to cross at Little Texas Lane and South Congress Avenue in November 2021. 

In March, court records obtained by KXAN investigators show Anderson was sentenced to 18 months in state jail. He originally pleaded guilty and was given five years of probation, but that was revoked after he failed to report to his supervision officer, and he didn’t pay court and other fees.

KXAN Investigators reached out to Anderson’s attorney Alex Calhoun multiple times by phone and email, but he said he has no comment on the case.

The Travis County District Attorney's office said it was the first case to be prosecuted under the new law. Advocates of the law believe that case set a precedent, but others pointed to some challenges enforcing the law, including not enough awareness that the law exists. 

Law challenges

The Fort Bend County District Attorney's office in the Houston area has become the unofficial hub for questions about the law and enforcement. 

It's where the idea for the law started after a mother named Lisa Torry Smith was struck and killed crossing the street with her son, in a crosswalk, and in a school zone in 2017. Her son was severely injured but survived. Officials tell KXAN investigators the driver who hit and killed Smith was not charged. Her family worked with the DA's office and pushed for the law named after the mother. 

"The biggest hurdle that we've seen so far, is being able to say, 'Does this rise to the level of criminal negligence?'" said Alison Baimbridge, Chief of Vehicular Crimes Division of the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office. "We want this law to be recognized. We want it to be successful. So, we're very hopeful that it is, as the cases start to come in, we get a little better kind of definition through the cases about what is and isn't criminal negligence."

Baimbridge explained proving criminal negligence is very fact-specific and may even be jurisdictional specific, meaning what could be considered criminal negligence in a city may be different in a rural area. 

"We have to be able to prove that under this law, that the driver was aware that there was a substantial risk of a pedestrian, a bicyclist, someone on a scooter to be in their pathway, right, and that they disregarded that and drove through there anyway," she explained. 

Families push for justice 

The Colony Police Department in north Texas told KXAN investigators that charges were not filed after a 14-year-old was struck and killed in July 2023 because investigators did not find the driver acted with criminal negligence. 

A police spokesperson said the investigation did not find that the driver was speeding or texting. He added that the driver entered the intersection with a green light and did not have any way of seeing Adrien Villegas, who was riding his electric bicycle, due to him being obscured by other vehicles at the intersection. 

Villegas' family doesn't agree and said the case should have been investigated further.

"I don't want my son's life to be in vain. He was so much more than how he went, and I don't want anybody else to go through this," said Villegas' mother, Emma Barba, crying. 

She said she's pleaded with the police department to take another look at the case, specifically at the law. She's also been trying to get the Denton County District Attorney to take the case. A spokesperson with the DA's office said its Victim’s Assistance Coordinator has spoken with Barba but as of right now it has not received a case from the police department.

"I need justice. I need accountability," Barba said. 

In the northwest Texas city of Lubbock, Reyes Balderas has also been pushing for accountability. He lost his mom, Mary Balderas, in September 2022.

"My mom had the signal to walk, you know, and that she made it across halfway across before ... a pickup truck turned into her," he said, adding she had been on her way to pay an electric bill. 

He added that he doesn't understand how the driver wasn't charged under the Lisa Torry Smith Act. A spokesperson with the Lubbock Police Department said it presented the investigation to the District Attorney’s office. The DA's office said a grand jury no-billed the case and declined to prosecute it. 

"What is this law created for?" Reyes asked. "My mom just lost her life. What is it going to take — another lost life in Texas?"

Across the state in Houston, Zachary Martin is waiting to see what happens in his mother's case. The crash report said Patricia Martin was in a crosswalk in January when a pickup hit her. Her son said she was taking a walk during her lunch break in the downtown area. 

"She was killed crossing the street while using a crosswalk," he said. "We've just been left to really just pick up pieces trying to figure out how to manage everything without her."

A spokesperson with the Houston Police Department said it will be sending the case to the Harris County District Attorney's office for a Grand Jury Referral in the coming weeks. The family is hopeful it will be the first case in their area tried under the law. 

"My mom's case could hopefully set a new shift in policy and traffic enforcement for pedestrians," Martin said. 

'Moment of relief'

The three families have connected with Citizens for Road Safety Texas, a non-profit making sure the law is enforced, founded by Lisa Torry Smith's sister, Gina. 

She is working to raise awareness of the law and calling police and DA's offices to push for accountability in the Texas cases. 

"It's going to take district attorneys with courage and conviction across Texas who value the protection of human life to create new precedent under Texas law," Torry said.  

KXAN investigators shared concerns about enforcement of the law with Texas Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, who authored the legislation. 

"It is concerning to hear about the challenges enforcing the Lisa Torry Smith Act. Leading up to the next legislative session, my office will study this public safety issue to determine if further statutory changes are necessary to uphold the true purpose of the law," Huffman said. 

Morris had given up on justice in her case after she said she wasn't getting anywhere with Dallas Police. 

But then she connected with Torry's organization after it was featured on KXAN and said more than two years after she was injured, the organization got Dallas police to take a closer look at her case.

In an email shared with KXAN investigators, a detective with the vehicle crimes unit let Morris know in April that after reviewing her case, it did meet the requirements under the law. The detective told her it's been forwarded as a Grand Jury Referral. 

"I had a moment of relief — and it felt like something that I had been carrying with me for two years," Morris said. 

The Dallas County DA's office explained it can't comment on a Grand Jury Referral. 

As Morris waits to see what happens next, her daily morning walks have resumed with Rudy. She said, luckily, the pickup missed him. 

"He needs to be held accountable," she said of the driver. "He needs to be charged with what he did to me."

Investigative Photojournalist Richie Bowes, Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle, Lead Editor Eric Lefenfeld, Investigative Intern Jaelyn Rodriguez, Digital Special Projects Developer Robert Sims, Graphic Artist Christina Staggs and Digital Director Kate Winkle contributed to this report.