Fiery Crash Kills 5, Including 3 Cameron Residents

(Caldwell County) A Cameron woman remains in critical condition with 3rd degree burns to almost half of her body following a fiery collision Sunday that killed her husband and two small grandchildren.  Rosalind Brinkley, 57, a journalism teacher at Yoe High School, was one of only two survivors in the wreck that killed 5 people.  Pronounced dead at the scene were her husband Gary Brinkley, 59; her two grandchildren, 3 year old Lillian Avila, and 2 year old Carmen Avila both of Cameron;  and a San Antonio couple, Don Walton 76, and his wife Beth Walton 79.  Another granddaughter to the Brinkleys, 10 year old Megan Connolly, was rescued from the burning motor home by an off-duty Houston police officer and was treated and released from an Austin hospital.  Officer Michael Williamson said he slammed a piece of metal against the window of the burning motor home, and rescued the screaming child.  As Williamson held the girl, he realized she was crying for her sisters still inside the inferno.  He told the Austin American Statesman that he tried to go back, but couldn't get close because of the intense heat.  

     The Brinkleys were traveling West on Texas 21 in a motor home when the Lincoln driven by Walton crossed the center stripe and struck the motor home head on.  The collision was so forceful that the motor home flipped onto its side and the gas tank was ripped from the motor home, and erupted spreading burning fuel along the winding 2-lane road, and engulfing the vehicle almost immediately.  Williamson was off duty and visiting relatives in San Marcos when he witnessed the head-on collision in front of him.  He was traveling behind the Lincoln, and when the collision occurred, he pulled over and ran first to the Lincoln and found the Waltons dead.  Then he turned to the motor home, but was stopped by the flames.  Then he said he heard the girl screaming.  He used a piece of metal from the motor home to break out a safety glass.  Williamson said the girl was standing in fire, and reaching for him as he rescued her.

     Mrs. Brinkley suffered burns and a head injury.  She rolled out through the windshield of the motor home as it lay on its side. 

     Yoe High Counselor Loretta Allen met with Mrs. Brinkley's journalism class Monday to talk about the tragedy.  Meanwhile,   Funeral services for Brinkley, and his two grandchildren are pending with Marek-Burns-Laywell Funeral Home in Cameron. 

    Saturday's wreck was the third fatal head-on collision along the stretch of Highway 21 since October 8th, raising the death toll for the Highway to 10 in less than a month , and at least 14 since the first of the year.