Just before 10:30 pm Montgomery County Hospital District dispatched a major accident at Jefferson Chemical and FM 3083. Moments later Conroe Fire Department dispatched a major accident at Pinto and FM 3083 which is three-fourths of a mile further north than the first report.
Conroe Fire arrived on the scene just south of the Conroe city limits in front of the just re-opened Ike Convenience Store. Crews found a Chevrolet Tahoe which was northbound on FM 3083 slammed into an 18-wheeler carrying a load of coiled wire.
The drivers side of the Tahoe was completely under the 18-wheeler. A immediate call went out for wreckers to assist. With a group effort drivers from Tommy’s Paint and Body, Dell Harris Wrecker and Texan Towing pitched in hooking onto the rear f the Tahoe. They were then able to drag it out from under the 18-wheeler allowing firefighters to have access to the passenger compartment.
The passenger Cody Seidel, 16 was seriously injured and taken to a Conroe Hospital.
His brother Richard Seidel, 18, was driving and did not fair as well. Cody was trapped in the drivers seat for almost an hour as Conroe Fire and MCHD medics worked to free him and stabilize him. Once the roof was cut away once again the wreckers were called in to peel the roof back enabling crews to enter the passenger compartment. Richards’s legs were pinned under the dashboard, the steering wheel broken, struck him in the face.
PHI Air Medical was dispatched to the scene and watched as crews continued to cut the driver out.
The driver was then flown to Hermann Hospital in Houston with severe facial trauma and severely broken left leg. Hospital personnel were still attempting to determine the extent of his other injuries.
The driver of the 18-wheeler, Ronald Lee Manning of Monroe, Louisiana who was driving the 2013 18-wheeler owned by Western Transportation fist said he had attempting to back into the parking lot of the convenience store in an attempt to turn around as he had missed the driveway of his delivery location. He later admitted to DPS that he had turned into the parking lot and had turned around and was in the process of going back south on FM 3083.
FM 3083 was closed until just after 2:30 a.m. as DPS troopers investigated the crash.
