Girlfriends’ Road Trip Turns Tragic After Police Say Truck Driver Was Distracted By Phone

Their families are now seeking legal action against H-E-B and the trucker for negligence.

Four girlfriends returning from a road trip looking to take in Colorado’s mountain views were killed in a crash involving a truck driver who authorities say was distracted by his phone.

Lakeshia Brown, 19, Myunique Johnson, 20, Taylor White, 27, and Breanna Brantley, 30, were driving down US Highway 87 in the Texas Panhandle on Nov. 5 when a trucker contracted with popular grocery chain H-E-B struck their car from behind.

According to a police report obtained by the Daily Mail, the black Nissan Altima swiftly flew into the median, becoming crushed when the 18-wheeler flipped over. The semi-truck’s driver, Guadalupe Daniel Villarreal, also hit the median, was injured.

Villareal was taken to a local hospital for his injuries. He was reportedly distracted by his phone, which prompted the deadly crash.

The report confirmed that the driver, 20-year-old Johnson, was traveling slowly due to a flat tire. Additional footage submitted by another car’s dashcam showed the slow-moving car as the 18-wheeler crashed into it.

The friends’ unexpected deaths have rocked their loved ones’ world. The victims’ families field a $1 million Dec. 23 against H-E-B, its subsidiary Parkway Transport, Inc. and Villarreal for their roles in the fatal crash.

“There are four beautiful girls who are no longer with us; it really is a damn shame,” said Keith Bakker, the families’ lawyer. “What’s even more heartbreaking is that they were coming back from a girls’ trip from Colorado. They were all friends.”

Bakker noted that the flat terrain of Texas gave the 18-wheeler a clear vantage point to see the women’s vehicle driving cautiously, leaving open questions about the severity of the collision.

“It wasn’t hilly, there weren’t obstructions to the view, and unfortunately, that tractor-trailer just violently impacted the back of our client’s vehicle and caused a serious, serious collision,” expressed the attorney.

He added, “When you’re driving an 18-wheeler on flat land, you can see much further ahead of you… You can see it from the video, you don’t even see it [the truck] try to get out of the lane, go to the next lane, or it looks like it didn’t even slow down. This just shouldn’t have happened.”

Although the women could not drive at the speed limit, Bakker emphasized how this does not justify the truck driver’s alleged recklessness.

“18-wheeler drivers, they’re held to a higher standard than that of a normal pedestrian driving around because there are federal rules they are regulated by,” he said. “It doesn’t excuse somebody, not only just to hit somebody, but at such a rate of force that it would cause an 18-wheeler to flip on its side.”

H-E-B has distanced itself as Villareal’s employer.

“The incident involved a third-party vendor driver, not an H-E-B Partner. H-E-B and the contractor are fully cooperating with the investigation,” a spokesperson said.