‘There’s no accountability’ for unsafe drivers on North Texas roadways

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – We’ve seen this week how deadly and dangerous standard traffic stops can be for police officers on North Texas freeways.

Laws designed to protect officers don’t seem to work often enough. 

Officer AJ Castaneda died on the George Bush Turnpike three years ago. His family has long since wanted freeways to be safer for officers and says this week’s death of Carrollton police officer Steve Nothem only left them shaking their heads. 

“It’s gotten that bad, where I just see people swerve three lanes over because they’re missing an exit or they are not paying attention,” Daniel Castaneda said. 

Castaneda, like a lot of us, doesn’t like what DFW freeways have become. 

“There’s no accountability,” he said. “At some point, for us to be some type of drivers app to where people drive a certain way and they’re caught swerving changing lanes too fast, they are held responsible for it.”

Castaneda’s brother AJ was a Grand Prairie police officer conducting speed enforcement on the Bush Turnpike when he was struck and killed in June 2019. 

A respected officer taken away by an unsafe driver. 

“I’ve had officers come out to me and tell me how AJ changed their perspective on how they did their job,” Castaneda said.

This week’s death of Carrollton police officer Steve Nothem has raised new concerns about traffic stops on freeways. 

“They just have to always make sure they’re in a good frame of mind when they go out there,” Catherine Smit-Torrez said.

Smit-Torrez is the former Cockrell Hill police chief, who says officer training can only do so much. 

“Officers are always taught how to approach, where to stand when they’re facing the driver and how to be cognizant of traffic coming,” she said. 

“If you’re pulling somebody over, whether it’s a DWI or whatever, it’s not safe to pull somebody over on the highway they need to get off on the exit ramp if that’s possible,” Castaneda said.

Texas law requires motorists to move at least one lane over from an emergency vehicles but officers tell me it’s difficult to enforce and not the solution to this problem.