Sherman police say driver with nine prior DWI convictions arrested after wrong-way crash on U.S. 82

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Sherman police arrested a 71-year-old driver on a felony drunken driving charge and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a wrong-way crash on westbound U.S. Highway 82 injured two people the evening of Aug. 9, the department said.

Officers were sent to the highway at about 7:30 p.m., according to the Sherman Police Department's public account of the arrest. The department identified the driver as Randy Morrison and said he was traveling the wrong direction on West U.S. 82 when his vehicle struck a second one. Both people inside that second vehicle were hurt. Police described the injuries as non-life-threatening and reported no deaths. The department did not release the names of the two injured people and did not describe the vehicles.

Morrison was booked on a charge of DWI third or more, police said, along with the two assault counts. The department said his record showed nine earlier DWI convictions. Nothing in the police account lists a separate charge labeled a 10th DWI.

Under Texas Penal Code Section 49.09, a DWI can be prosecuted as a third-degree felony after two prior qualifying intoxication-related convictions. That statutory wording is what appears on the booking charge.

The two aggravated assault counts, police said, rest on the allegation that Morrison drove the wrong way on a U.S. highway while intoxicated. Section 22.02 of the Penal Code applies to an assault allegation that involves serious bodily injury or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon. The statute sets no requirement that the weapon be a gun or a knife.

The counts reflect the accusations at the time of the arrest. The public record available so far includes no court filing or bond amount. The police account does not say whether Morrison was injured.

U.S. 82 through the area is already the subject of state review. The Texas Department of Transportation lists a U.S. 82 safety improvement feasibility study among its projects and names its Sherman Area Office as the contact for that work.

The Aug. 9 crash was at least the second wrong-way driver on Highway 82 in Grayson County to draw a public statement from law enforcement in recent months. In June, the Grayson County Sheriff's Office said a deputy was struck while trying to stop a driver the office described as intoxicated and traveling the wrong way on the highway.