Agent: Hit-and-run car belongs to Cowboy
2 childhood friends killed, man hurt helping motorist on I-35E
01/14/2003
Two childhood friends who stopped to rescue a man from a burning car along Interstate 35E were killed early Tuesday when they were struck by a speeding hit-and-run driver in a car belonging to a Dallas Cowboys player.
The gray BMW that killed Joseph Wood and Demont Matthews of Plano is registered to Dallas Cowboys backup cornerback Dwayne Goodrich, according to Stephen W. Zucker, Mr. Goodrich’s Chicago-based agent.
Mr. Zucker said Mr. Goodrich surrendered to police Tuesday because he knew they would be looking for him.
“He’s just devastated by all of this, absolutely devastated,” Mr. Zucker said Tuesday night.
Also Online
Video: Brett Shipp reports
Mr. Goodrich, the Cowboys’ second-round draft pick in 2000 from the University of Tennessee, could not be reached for comment. People inside his Coppell home would not answer the door or telephone.
Mr. Zucker said he expects charges to be filed Wednesday and bail set. He would not comment on any other details.
Dallas police did not return calls seeking comment about the driver’s identity. However, an officer at the city auto pound confirmed that a gray-silver BMW had been impounded late Tuesday.
Mr. Wood and Mr. Matthews had pulled off the freeway between Walnut Hill and Royal lanes to assist another car that caught fire after it rear-ended a disabled 18-wheeler in the northbound lanes.
Dallas Cowboys' defensive back Dwayne Goodrich (right) visits with fans after the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Texas Stadium.
(FILE 2002 / DMN)As the two friends joined a third man trying to rescue the driver of the burning car, a gray BMW attempted to pass the disabled vehicle in the median and struck the three men, said Lt. John Branton, a supervisor in the police traffic division. Mr. Wood and Mr. Matthews died from their injuries; the third man suffered a broken leg. The man driving the burning car was injured, but police said he was expected to survive.
Lt. Branton said there were no skid marks to indicate the BMW’s speed or that it tried to stop. Witnesses told police the BMW was traveling more than 100 mph.
“The suspect never slowed down and did not stop to provide aid,” according to the police report.
The driver faces two counts of manslaughter, one count of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and three counts of failing to render aid, police said.
Mark Reiland, 44, of The Colony, was among the witnesses to the wreck.
“The driver door was open, and three or four people were trying to get the guy out of the burning car,” he said. “The hit-and-run driver literally fit through there like an hour glass or something and pushed the car out of the way as it went.
“When the car came through, all I saw was a streak and the collision.”
Mr. Reiland said the people trying to help risked their lives.
“You were taking a huge risk just being out there,” he said. “Yet people were still out there doing that.”
Danny Matthews, Demont Matthews’ father, said the BMW driver needs to admit what he did.
“Sometimes, we all do things that are wrong. But we pay for our mistakes,” he said. “He hit a nice guy. If Demont wasn’t such a good person and he hadn’t stopped, he’d still be here today.”
The younger Mr. Matthews, 23, and Mr. Wood, 21, knew each other for more than 10 years, and their families have been close even longer.
Mr. Wood’s family could not be reached for comment. Police did not release identities of the other two people injured.
A police report said Mr. Matthews was in the car that struck the 18-wheeler, but his father said he was riding with Mr. Wood. They did not know the two people in the burning car, the victim’s father said.
Dallas police could not clear up the discrepancy late Tuesday.
Mr. Matthews was a 1998 graduate of a Plano high school. He was searching for a job after being laid off in December from Target, his father said.
Helping others was not unusual for Mr. Matthews, who often played ball with neighborhood children, his family said.
“He goes out of his way to help anyone he can,” his father said. “I’ll tell you what, you would like him. He would always have a smile on his face.”
The last person to speak with the younger Mr. Matthews was his mother.
“I don’t know what he was out doing,” his father said. “He told his mother, ‘Mama, I’ll see you tomorrow.’ But he didn’t make it.”
The speeding BMW dragged Mr. Matthews 155 feet, according to the police report. He died at the scene. Mr. Wood died in an ambulance on the way to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The men are the seventh and eighth traffic fatalities in Dallas in 2003, according to a police report.
Staff writers Chip Brown in Mobile, Ala., and Tiara Ellis in Dallas contributed to this report.
