MARCH 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 3

WORDS BY DONNA WILLIAMS
Worst Traffic Accident in
Houston’s History
In 1976, my dad was a detective
for the Houston Police Department.
On May 11, 1976, he had an
early morning court call in Judge
Jimmy Duncan’s court. Anyone
who was a cop in the 70’s and
80’s knew you’d better not be
late or even worse missing from
one of his court calls. You would
be facing contempt of court and
get locked up yourself.
Shortly after 10:30am the D.A
cut my dad loose and he left
downtown to follow up on an
attempted murder case he was
working. He traveled outbound
on US 59 and as he approached
Loop 610 his world was about to
change in ways he never imaged.
Just after 11am, a tanker truck
traveling on Loop 610 attempted
to navigate the intersecting
interchange and lost control
of his rig. It slammed through
the guardrail, struck a support
beam and fell over 100 feet to
the Southwest freeway below.
Luckily it just missed striking a
car below.
Had it just been an empty
trailer he was towing it would
have just been a horrible crash
that killed its driver. But not on
this day. The truck was hauling
a liquid tanker truck filled with
7,000-gallons of anhydrous ammonia.
Not the standard cleaning
product one would use at home.
This was pure, undiluted industrial
anhydrous ammonia that
is used in heavy-duty chemical
processes and is extremely deadly
if mishandled. The tanker ruptured
upon impact and let loose
a cloud of highly toxic ammonia
fumes that were deadly to anyone
within breathing distance.
My dad rolled up on this
nightmare mere seconds after
it happened. He had no idea
how deadly this cloud was, but
immediately sensed this was
bad. Really Bad. God was surely
watching over my dad, because
the wind was blowing the cloud
away from him as he watched
people collapsing on the concrete
in front of him. He was
close enough to breathe some of
the fumes, but not enough to kill
him. At least not that day anyway.
For the next several minutes,
my dad recused dozens of people
from their cars and got them
to safety. He ended up in the
hospital later that day when one
of his lungs collapsed.
In 2019, The Houston Chronicle
ran a story about what was and
is the worst traffic accident in
Houston’s history:
May 11 marks the 44th anniversary
of one of the scariest moments
in Houston history, when
a semitrailer carrying more than
7,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia
fell from a freeway ramp,
spilling its lethal contents.
The incident, which left seven
dead and nearly 200 injured,
caused officials to rethink how
to tackle chemical disasters and
led to rules still in use today.
Over forty years later, the
route that ammonia truck took
still snakes through a city that
has doubled in size, leaving
Houston vulnerable to a catastrophic
accident.
Just after 11 a.m. on May 11,
1976, a tanker truck carrying
the dangerous chemical fell
onto the Southwest Freeway
from the 610 West Loop above.
The driver had lost control of
the rig and hit a support beam.
The National Transportation
Safety Board would later determine
that the driver was not
traveling at a safe speed. He
barely missed landing on a car
passing by. Not much was left
from the truck in the aftermath.
From a Houston Post dateline:
“As the sign says, the weather
is fair, it’s 83 degrees and
the time is 11:17 a.m. The date
is also May 11, and that white
cloud in the distance is the toxic
blanket of anhydrous ammonia
fumes which resulted from
a tank truck crash at Southwest
Freeway and the West Loop
which killed five persons. The
Texas Air Control Board took the
picture from its offices at 5555
West Loop South.”
(The Houston Post Building
was less that 200 yards from the
site of the wreck and the entire
building was evacuated for the
rest of the day)
The fumes that were released
proved fatal for those who were
too close. Freeway traffic was
closed for three miles in all directions.
Most nearby residents
left their homes. Those who
were close enough to detect the
smell were told to relocate until
the odor dissipated.
A recording of the KPRC-AM
coverage of the event can be
heard here. Reporter Bob Raleigh
spoke to witnesses who saw the
accident and confirmed fatalities
at the scene with fire officials. It’s
a 40-minute time capsule from
one of the worst disasters in
Houston history up to that point.
KTRK-TV reports from the
scene show medics taking away
burn victims and everyday Houstonians
chipping in to help the
recovery effort. One medic said
he had 12 people in one ambulance.
Area hospitals and emergency
rooms were inundated.
There was almost no chance
of survival for those caught in a
cloud of ammonia that strong,
and most greenery in the area
later died.
The accident claimed seven
lives, including six who died at
the scene or shortly afterwards:
David Randle Whiteman, 48;
Grace Gillebaard, 33; Earl Davis,
26; Gordon D. McAdams, 40;
Robert Wisnoski, 64, and truck
driver William Gregory Schmidt,
28
Some people survived their
exposure to the chemical but
would live with lung damage. My
dad lived another ten years after
the accident and died of lung
84 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 85