HOUSTON – Students, co-workers, and friends gathered at Saturday night at Heights High School to remember a coach who was killed in a wrong-way crash Monday morning.
Deputies said that around 1:30 a.m., a driver of a Ford F-150 was going the wrong way in the 10100 block of Sam Houston Tollway and crashed head-on into the Mercedes that Adrian Byrd was driving. The impact of the wreck caused the Mercedes to hit a Chevy 1500, according to deputies.
Adrian Byrd, 34, died at a hospital about two hours after the crash. His wife was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital, deputies said. They said she suffered multiple broken bones and was last reported to be in a coma.
Timothy Lavallais was one of Byrd's players and stood on the school's football field as he remembered how his coach was very helpful.
"He was a good man. He helped you with your work and everything," Lavallais said.
Byrd worked as a teacher, coachm and track coach at Heights High School.Â
"He was a good friend. He was there to encourage you no matter what. He pushed you through every workout you did. Even if you say you can't, he would make you do it ten times harder because he knew you could do it," Janae Sanders said.
How Byrd died was a teachable moment for all students.
"Let this be a lesson learned to us all, don't drink and drive," one person said.Â
The memorial was wrapped up with a balloon release.
Many said Byrd made a difference in his student's lives.
"Even though I wasn't one of his football players or a track student, I was still a student of his and it was a big loss. I'd talk to him every day," Samantha Chavez said.
