Cowboys defensive end Sam Williams drove as fast as 98 mph in a 55 mph zone, weaving between vehicles, in the final seconds before a Dec. 22 crash, Plano police said in an arrest affidavit this month.
Williams, 23, was formally charged with misdemeanor reckless driving in a Jan. 10 arrest warrant. On Jan. 17, he turned himself in for booking, was assigned a $5,000 bond and released, one day after the Cowboys’ first-round playoff win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The affidavit was disclosed Tuesday to The Dallas Morning News.
According to the document, a Plano traffic officer, who is a certified accident reconstructionist, determined over the course of investigation that Williams averaged 92 mph and reached 98 mph when driving southbound on Preston Road in the five seconds to half-second before Williams collided with an SUV. The SUV’s driver, a 71-year-old woman, was attempting to turn westbound into a parking lot around 2:22 p.m.
Both Williams and the woman were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.
In the affidavit, the officer paraphrased her account of the crash.
“She advised as she was midway through the turn, a black Corvette came around another vehicle at a high rate of speed,” the officer wrote. “She advised there was nothing she could do, and the Corvette struck her car.”
Shortly before the collision, a witness called 911 and reported Williams for speeding, running a red light and weaving between lanes, according to the affidavit. The document also states Williams denied to police that he ran a red light; he admitted to swerving around vehicles and estimated his driving speed at 65 to 75 mph.
Williams, a rookie second-round draft pick, was added to the Cowboys’ injury report on Dec. 23 with a neck strain and concussion. He missed a Dec. 24 win over the Philadelphia Eagles because of the injuries. Two days later, he told reporters that he totaled his black Corvette convertible in the incident. He added that he newly owned the vehicle, having picked it up from an auto dealership less than 24 hours before the crash.
He also said that he didn’t have a concussion.
“The accident, I look back over it and am just thankful for life. You know?” Williams said on Dec. 26. “Being that Christmas [was] right around, the biggest gift we have is life every day because you never know. I encourage everyone to hug their loved ones. Any dispute with family members, anything, end it because you’ll never know when that day is.
“Me going through that, it’s like, ‘Dang.’ I called family members, my mom, everybody to check on them. You never know.”
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