Family of woman killed in Houston crosswalk sues driver

Catch up quick: Per a Houston Police Department crash report obtained by Axios, Emmanuel Megrelis, then 58, failed to yield the right-of-way and struck Patricia Martin, 64, in January while she was in a crosswalk at Milam Street and Walker Street with the pedestrian signal activated.

• Axios did not previously identify Megrelis as the driver since he wasn't charged, but he has now been publicly named as the defendant in the lawsuit from Martin's family.
• HPD's vehicular crimes detectives finished their investigation in April and forwarded their findings to the Harris County District Attorney's Office in early July, HPD spokesperson Victor Senties told Axios yesterday.

Driving the news: The wrongful death lawsuit, filed Sept. 20 in Harris County District Court, seeks more than $1 million in damages from Megrelis, claiming he was negligent for failing to yield to Martin.

The other side: Court records show Megrelis has yet to be formally served with the lawsuit.

• Axios was unable to reach Megrelis.

Zoom in: Martin, a downtown office worker, was out for lunch around 12:20pm Jan. 29 when she started crossing Milam Street.

• Megrelis had just left a meeting with HPD's Family Violence Unit regarding a protective order, according to the crash report.

Per the report, Megrelis turned onto Milam Street from Walker Street from the second lane and struck Martin with his 2020 Chevrolet Silverado.

• He later told HPD Vehicular Crimes Division investigators that he stopped, put a pillow under Martin's head and asked a bystander to call 911. She was rushed to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead just before 1pm.
• Police allowed Megrelis to drive off in the pickup as they continued their investigation after deciding he wasn't intoxicated.

Context: Houston is on pace to record the highest number of traffic fatalities over the last five years.

Flashback: Zach Martin, Patricia Martin's adult son, told Axios his family had not heard from police investigators or prosecutors since April.

• It wasn't until an Oct. 14 pedestrian safety forum — an event that Zach Martin helped organize — that he received an update.

The intrigue: Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg was slated to appear at the forum, but instead assistant district attorney Mateo Gonzalez spoke on her behalf.

• Before a grand jury presentation, the DA's office first vets fatal crash cases through an internal committee, Gonzalez said at the forum.

Zach Martin told Axios that Gonzalez said the case would go through the committee process in November and be presented to a grand jury as soon as January.

• On the table are charges under a 2021 Texas law called the Lisa Torry Smith Act, which targets drivers who injure or kill someone who is lawfully using a crosswalk.
• No one has been prosecuted under this law in Harris County.

What they're saying: "Our family is very hopeful that Patricia's case can be the first instance of a driver being charged under the Lisa Torry Smith Act in Harris County," Zach Martin said.

• "The remarkable absence of any prosecutions up until today comes from what I can only guess has been a lack of willingness within the district attorney's office under Kim Ogg's leadership to enforce this law."

Axios reached out to the DA's office with questions about the case but did not hear back.

The bottom line: "Officers should hold drivers accountable when they're at fault," Charlie Thomas, the family's attorney, told Axios. "We intend to find out how and why Emmanuel Megrelis ended up killing Ms. Martin in a crosswalk.

• "The answers are important, as no amount of monetary recovery will ever bring her back or fill the forever void that's now in the Martin family."