Vehicle drives through Heritage Title at high rate of speed

A reckless driver flew his vehicle into the Heritage Title Building at the corner of Commerce and Mount Streets early Saturday morning, Oct. 8, causing a fire inside the building.

Freestone County deputies began battling the blaze with fire extinguishers and also were able to extricate a woman from the passenger side of the vehicle.

Fairfield firefighters arrived soon after and were able to extricate the male driver from the vehicle by cutting the roof off the vehicle. They then were able to extinguish the fire.

The man and the woman, both from the Lufkin area, were transported to hospitals by air ambulance.

According to Freestone County Sheriff’s Office reports, the driver was traveling at a high rate of speed, “blew past” deputies on Commerce Street, near Fair Park, heading west into town. As he approached the traffic signal at Commerce and Mount, where another vehicle was stopped in the left lane at the red light, the speeding driver ran off the road, jumped the curb in front of the courthouse and hit a light pole. The driver continued straight and jumped another curb in front of Heritage Title, which caused the vehicle to be airborne, go through the sidewalk railing and come to rest inside the building.

Department of Public Safety is leading the investigation.

"Please, do not enter the area or the actual building itself. The damage sustained to the building has created a potentially dangerous hazard due to weakening parts of the structure," Sheriff Jeremy Shipley said. "The area has been roped off with caution tape and barricades have been set up around that end of the building."