Jurors decline to indict Fort Worth man in October traffic death on Interstate 35W
A Tarrant County grand jury has declined to indict a Fort Worth motorist on charges that he caused a traffic accident that killed another driver and endangered his children in October on Interstate 35W near downtown Fort Worth.
Jurors reached their decision Wednesday on 39-year-old Jeton Avdiu, who had been charged with manslaughter and two counts of endangering a child.
Avdiu was in an Oct. 10 traffic accident that killed 33-year-old Mason David Crews of Watauga. Avdiu’s wife and two children were with him at the time of the crash.
“We want to thank the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office and the grand jury for carefully reviewing the underlying facts,” said Avdiu’s defense attorneys, Christy Jack and Letty Martinez of Varghese Summersett in Fort Worth, in a released statement. “We have always believed that Jeton did what any father would do in the same situation. He tried to prevent a collision and protect his wife and two young children who were also in the car. Sadly, a terrible accident still occurred. This was a tragic loss, but it was not a crime.”
A $1 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed in December by Crews’ father, Dennis J. Luellen of Denton, against Avdiu, and Eric Hinojosa, a driver for Cadence Delivery and Amazon.com, who also was involved in the crash. The lawsuit also named Cadence Delivery and Amazon.com. The lawsuit was still pending as of Thursday, according to Tarrant County court records. Avdiu has denied the allegations in court documents filed in December.
Avdiu was traveling northbound near the Lancaster Avenue exit, when he crossed multiple lanes of traffic in an effort to exit the freeway, according to Fort Worth police reports.
The lawsuit stated that Avdiu was following other vehicles too closely, failed to maintain a safe speed and did not keep a proper lookout before the crash, which caused Crews’ car to roll over. Crews was thrown out of a car through a sunroof.
A Fort Worth detective stated in a report that Avdiu was charged with manslaughter because he was not being truthful when he described the evasive action he took to avoid the crash based on witness statements, a scale diagram and an officer’s body camera videos.
But grand jurors declined to indict Avdiu on any charges.
