Just after 7:30 a.m. Saturday Ramon Espinal, 55, of Conroe was westbound on SH 105 just west of Montgomery High School when a Dodge truck which had possibly hydroplaned in the intense rain crossed the center line. A 2010 Mini-Cooper was eastbound and struck the pickup head-on. The crash caused the Mini-Cooper to come to rest in the ditch. The Dodge 1500 remained across the moving lanes of traffic.
With heavy rain coming down at the time, a Honda Odyssey van which was also eastbound on SH105 was unable to see the truck and t-boned the passenger side of the pickup. The van driven by Joshua Masters, 26, of Montgomery was uninjured. His wife and three children all ages2 and under were uninjured.
Carlos Aguna, a passenger in the pickup was uninjured, however, Espinal was transported to Conroe Regional Hospital in stable condition.
Montgomery Fire Department had to remove the doors of the Mini-Cooper to free the trapped driver identified as Herman Lacey. He was transported to Conroe Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Even with the extensive front end damage to the front of the Cooper, the airbags did not deploy. The impact was great enough to buckle the roof of the vehicle.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Vehicular Crimes Unit did respond to the scene to assist in the investigation.
Herman “Randall” Lacey, 59 is a Career and Technology Education Teacher at Hempstead Independent School District.
Hempstead ISD is providing counselors for students affected by this tragedy.
Funeral arrangements for Lacey are scheduled for Wednesday, October 3rd at 6:00 pm at the Hempstead High School Auditorium.
Hempstead ISD is also setting up the Randell Lacey CTE Memorial Scholarship.
If you’d like to contribute..funds can be sent directly to Hempstead ISD.
It is still unknown why the airbags did not deploy in this crash. However, according to many sources, there have been multiple incidents of this after running a Google search.
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