DPS: Drunk Driver Meets Deer on U.S. 277

Friday night, DPS said that a drunk driver lost control while swerving to miss a deer in his white 1997 Dodge Dakota pickup. The single-vehicle rollover crash happened on U.S. 277 near the Mineral Wells Road intersection north of Christoval.

The first witness on the scene just after midnight Friday said the driver appeared to be unconscious when they found him. The witness said that she was returning home after the Christoval High School homecoming dance when she witnessed the crash.

“We found him on way back. He was out for good 10 minutes anyways. I left as soon as EMS arrived,” the witness said. She said she made the first 911 call and was the first one on the scene after the crash.

Once consciousness was regained, the driver told the DPS investigator Trooper Ramiro Garza that he swerved to miss a deer on the road, causing him to drive off the right side of the roadway. The driver then overcorrected back to the left. Upon returning to the prepared surface of the roadway, the Dakota spun counterclockwise entering into a broadside skid causing a rollover onto its top. The Dakota came to rest facing north in the east ditch of U.S. 277.

DPS identified the driver as Collier Mitchell Shurley, 33, of Eldorado. He was treated for minor injuries and booked into the Tom Green County Jail for driving while intoxicated.