State Senator Won't Face Charges In Fatal Crash

CHANNING, Texas (AP) - A Texas district attorney says a Colorado lawmaker involved in a fatal crash will not face charges in connection with the December accident in the Panhandle.

Hartley County district attorney David Green announced Wednesday that a grand jury declined to indict Colorado Sen. Suzanne Williams.

Investigators say Williams' car drifted into oncoming traffic along U.S. 385 on Dec. 26 and crashed head-on into another car, killing 30-year-old Brianna Gomez of Amarillo. Gomez's unborn child was delivered by cesarean section.

Williams, 66, said she was relieved by the announcement.

"It has been a horrific experience for the Gomez family and my family," Williams, a staunch advocate of child-restraint laws, she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I continue to keep the Gomez family in my prayers."

Gomez's husband, Eric Gomez, called the grand jury's decision "unfortunate."

"No matter what I do, no matter how long I stomp my foot it's not going to change the call on the field," said the coach and teacher at Amarillo High School. "And on a larger scale there's nothing I can do to change what the grand jury decided."

He said the family is regrouping and will "see where that leads us."

A call to Green's office was not immediately returned. He told reporters he would not discuss specifics of the panel's deliberations other than to say it decided not to issue criminal indictments.

"We want to express our sympathy over the loss of Brianna Gomez," Green said, according to the Amarillo Globe-News website. "Our prayers are with them."

The Colorado legislator's 3-year-old grandson was ejected from her vehicle, but she managed to find the boy and put him back into a car seat, according to a preliminary investigative report. Williams has said she has no recollection of the crash.

Williams was wearing a seat belt, though her 41-year-old son and two grandsons, were not. All survived.

Gomez's husband and two other children also survived.

Rep. Nancy Todd of Aurora, a Denver suburb, has said the family told her that Williams' son had climbed into the back seat to unbuckle and put pajamas on the boys, who were also unbuckled so he could put them to bed for the drive to Colorado.

The Texas Panhandle town near where the accident occurred is about 375 miles southeast of the Denver area.

- By Betsy Blaney, AP Writer

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)