Lavaca County neighbors
Interstate 10
Auto Accident

Fatal crashes near Flatonia close I-10 for half a day on July 6

  • Four people died when two 18-wheelers collided and caused a several more crashes along Interstate 10 near Flatonia earlier this months, bringing one of Texas' largest thoroughfares to a halt for 12 hours.
    Four people died when two 18-wheelers collided and caused a several more crashes along Interstate 10 near Flatonia earlier this months, bringing one of Texas' largest thoroughfares to a halt for 12 hours.

    Interstate 10 eastbound in Gonzales County came to a standstill for more than 11 hours after a fatal auto accident occurred just before noon, Wednesday, July 6.

    The accident reports began at 11:22 a.m. Wednesday near Waelder, reported Sgt. Rueben San Miguel, public information officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety out of Victoria. Three semi rigs and three passenger vehicles collided, he said.

    Travel advisories were later issued, warning people to avoid that stretch of I-10 from about Mile Marker 655 onward, along with another hazardous materials incident in Gonzales County, Lavaca County Emergency Management Coordinator Egon Barthels reported. 

    He joined first responders at the scene late that evening in a relief capacity and contacted the newspaper on his trip back home.

    All eastbound I-10 traffic, still shutdown as Barthels headed for home at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday,  was diverted to Highway 90 in Flatonia. 

    A 2021 Volvo truck-tractor, driven by Wade Stagle, 57, of Remer, Minn., along with passenger Christy Hoffer, 46, of Harrisburg, Penn., towing a semi-trailer and traveling eastbound on I-10 in the right lane. 

    San Miguel said Stagle failed to slow down near a construction area and hit a 2020 BMW, driven by Mona Nesbitt, 62, of Lubbock, along with two minor passengers, and continued crashing into several other vehicles, according to San Miguel.

    Four people, including Stagel, the Minnesota truck driver, and Hoffer, his Pennsylvania passenger, Nesbitt of Lubbock and an unnamed girl, age 11, were reported killed at the crash scene, San Miguel said.

    Gonzales County Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Jesse Almaraz called the deaths and sought autopsies on all four of the deceased.

    San Miguel also reported that a boy in the BMW had been flown to a San Antonio hospital, where he was listed in serious condition upon his arrival.

    The wreckage and debris from the accidents shut down the interstate.

    “I-10 was closed from 11:22 a.m. to 11:40 p.m. Traffic was diverted onto a feeder road and diverted around, but I-10 was closed down for almost more than 11 hours,” San Miguel said.