Two people were killed in a wrong-way crash with a suspected drunk driver in south Fort Worth early Saturday, Jan. 17, police say.
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Two people were killed in a wrong-way crash with a suspected drunk driver in south Fort Worth early Saturday, police said.
Officers were called to Interstate 35W at Garden Acres Drive shortly after 2 a.m. A car traveling south in the northbound lanes hit another vehicle, killing two of the occupants, according to police. Both died at the scene.
Axel Perez, 18, was arrested and faces a charge of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle, according to police records. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner will publicly identify the two people who died.
This story was originally published January 17, 2026 at 1:17 PM.
A teenage driver who killed a family of six in a wrong-way crash in Johnson County while under the influence of marijuana in December 2023 has been sentenced to 65 years in prison, officials say.
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The teenage driver who killed a family of six in a wrong-way crash in Johnson County in December 2023 while under the influence of marijuana has been sentenced to 65 years in prison, officials said.
A Johnson County jury handed down 19-year-old Luke Resecker’s sentence on Oct. 28 after a week-long trial.
“This tragedy stands as a sobering reminder of the irreversible consequences of impaired and reckless driving,” the Johnson and Somervell counties District Attorney’s Office said in a Facebook post announcing the conviction.
Resecker and another teen were traveling southwest on U.S. 67 near Cleburne the day after Christmas. They were approaching County Road 1119 when officials say Resecker crossed over the double yellow line, which indicates a no-passing zone, and entered the northeast lane of traffic. The Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck collided head-on with a Honda Odyssey.
Lokesh Potabathula from Alpharetta, Georgia, was the only survivor in the Odyssey. The 43-year-old was left paralyzed from the waist down, according to the district attorney’s post.
Potabathula’s wife Naveena Potabathula, 36, son Krithik, 10, daughter Nishidha, 9, and cousin Rushil Barri, 28, died in the crash, as did Naveena’s parents, who were visiting from India — Nageswararao Ponnada, 64, and Sitamahalakshmi Ponnada, 60. The family was staying with relatives in North Texas over Christmas vacation.
Resecker, who was 17 at the time of the crash, and his 17-year-old passenger were both critically injured and airlifted to Fort Worth hospitals. The passenger suffered a traumatic brain injury, according to the post.
A blood test found active THC in Resecker’s system at the time of the collision, officials said, and more marijuana was found inside his truck. Three months after the fatal crash, a Johnson County judge arraigned the teen on six counts of intoxication manslaughter, two counts of intoxication assault, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of marijuana.
Resecker was placed on monitored home confinement after posting the $50,000 bond. Due to his injuries from the crash he was found not medically fit to be booked into the Johnson County Jail at the time.
At the trial, Resecker was given three days off his sentence for jail time served, according to court records. It’s not clear when he’s eligible for parole.
