An investigation is continuing into an automobile accident on Tomball Parkway that killed a 33-year-old Baytown woman.

Tomball Police officials said that a crash which occurred on the afternoon of Sept. 17 pushed two automobiles into a natural gas main, causing an explosion. Erika Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Investigation revealed that a 2002 Ford Explorer was traveling southbound on Tomball Parkway in the outermost lane,” a Tomball Police statement said. “As the Ford Explorer attempted to pass a vehicle by entering the center lane, it side-swiped a vehicle traveling in the innermost lane, causing the driver of the Ford Explorer to lose control of her vehicle and strike a 1988 GMC pickup that was stationary at the stop sign of Hirschfield and Tomball Parkway.”

Police officials said the impact caused both vehicles to travel off the roadway and hit a gas meter. Both cars were then set ablaze. The Tomball Fire Department and Northwest EMS also responded to the scene.

Police officials said the driver of the Ford Explorer was Dorothy Daigle, 63, of Magnolia. Daigle was transported to Tomball Regional Hospital where she was treated and released.

As of press time the investigation into the accident was still open and Daigle has not been ticketed or charged. This was the first fatal accident in Tomball in 2011.

“Officials with the Tomball Police Department, in partnership with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, are conducting the accident investigation,” the statement read.

Members of Johnson’s family are questioning why a gas meter was located so close to a busy roadway.

“We need to figure out if the gas meters were even supposed to be there,” said Johnson’s cousin Melinda Banamar. “It’s on such a busy highway and coming into Houston you don’t see any, but they are all over Tomball.”

City officials did not return requests for comment about gas meter locations, as of press time.

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