Wrong Way Driver Killed After Crash on HWY 277

ABILENE, TX – A woman was killed this morning in a wrong-way crash on Highway 277. 

According to KTXS, on January 31, emergency services from all around the Abilene area were dispatched to Highway 277 for the report of a major motor vehicle accident. 

When the police arrived, they discovered a white Chevrolet Impala and a Dodge Ram that had collided in the middle of the roadway. 

The Dodge Ram was empty and was flipped upside down while the Impala was heavily damaged with an occupant still inside. 

Firefighters worked for an hour to get the trapped woman out of the Impala. Once out of the car, the elderly woman was taken to the hospital where she later died. 

After further investigation, authorities said for an unknown reason, a woman was driving a white Chevy Impala headed north in the southbound lanes. A man traveling in a separate vehicle with his wife driving right behind him swerved into the median to miss the Impala. The Impala then slammed head-on into the man's wife who was right behind him in the Ram Truck. The wife's pickup truck, the Dodge Ram, flipped over on it's top. After the crash the husband picked up his wife and took her to the hospital. 

Update at 1 p.m.

Abilene police confirmed that the white 2014 Chevrolet Malibu, driven by Cynthia Daniels, 71, of Abilene, was traveling in the oncoming lanes by driving north in the southbound lane of U.S. Highway 277. Two other vehicles traveling southbound had to maneuver in order to miss the Malibu. A third vehicle, a 2014 Dodge Pickup, collided head-on with the Malibu.

The driver of the Dodge, 24-year-old Dakota Parson of Anson, was taken to the hospital by private auto with injuries. Police stated he is expected to survive.

Daniels, the driver of the Malibu, was trapped in the vehicle and had to be extricated by the Abilene Fire Department. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead at the hospital.