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E-mail This StoryACCIDENT: McKinney police and the District Attorney's office referred four suspects to the grand jury in connection with the natural gas accident.
By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette
McKinney Police and the Collin County District Attorney’s Office presented four suspects for possible indictment in connection with the natural gas explosions that seriously injured two people and killed a third.
Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act filed with the McKinney Police Department show investigators fingered four possible suspects for indictment in connection with the natural gas explosions that took place last May on Fenet Street.
The Texas Attorney General’s office said the city of McKinney could withhold information regarding the outcome of their criminal investigation into the accident since the grand jury declined to file a bill of indictment against any of the four suspects. Section 552.108 of the Texas Government Code states prosecutors and law enforcement agencies may withhold certain information obtained from an investigation if the information “did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication.”
The Texas Attorney General’s office also said the city of McKinney “must release the basic information pursuant to section 552.108(c) of the Government Code.” The basic information included the Collin County District Attorney’s case report forms presented to the grand jury for consideration and the incident report filed by the McKinney PD.
The DA’s office submitted four names to the grand jury each with three recommended charges of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, one for each of the victims injured in the explosions.
Nancy Foster, Raul Moreno and Arthur Bryson were all flown to Dallas-area hospitals after a punctured gas line caused natural gas to seep into two area homes through sewer lines and explode on May 16 in homes along Fenet Street. Mrs. Foster died on July 27 at Parkland Hospital.
The suspects included a safety supervisor, a foreman and two employees, one of whom did the drilling that bored through the line and the other charged with locating the line that was hit that caused the leak. The case reports allege the suspects failed to notify emergency authorities by calling 911 after the line was struck.
The case reports also show that none of the four suspects received warrants or were arrested before their case went before the grand jury.
Each charge carried a second-degree felony count, a charge punishable by a prison term of two to 20 years in state jail and a possible fine no higher than $10,000, according to the Texas Penal Code.
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
