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Driver had 3 DWI convictions before killing teen by crashing into North Texas home: police

A White Settlement man accused of being drunk when he crashed his pickup truck into a home and killed an 18-year-old inside the residence Sunday has three previous convictions of driving while intoxicated, according to White Settlement police records.

Donald Gruber was convicted twice in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida — on June 24, 1983, and again on Nov. 23, 1993, according to police records. The town is about 70 miles southeast of Orlando.

A few years later, Gruber was convicted of DWI in DeKalb County, Georgia. DeKalb County is about six miles northeast of Atlanta.

The 63-year-old man, who now lives in North Texas, was just blocks away from his home Sunday evening when he lost control of his pickup truck, drove over a curb and hit a fence at one home and a tree before slamming into a home on Jason Court in White Settlement and driving through multiple bedrooms, police said.

Three people were inside of the home at the time of the crash.

Killed in the home was Saginaw High School student Katey June Kirkland. The 18-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. Sunday, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office website on Monday.

The girl’s father was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. Her mother suffered minor injuries.

A woman who was a passenger in the truck was taken to a local hospital for minor injuries and is cooperating with investigators, police said. She told investigators Gruber had been drinking, according to police.

Gruber was arrested at the scene and faces charges of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault, based upon officers’ observations, evidence and witness statements at the scene.

The criminal case will be forwarded to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office assisted with crime scene processing and conducting a forensic map of the crash scene.

White Settlement police also said excessive speed is believed to be a factor in the crash in addition to the impairment from alcohol.

White Settlement police are working with local school officials in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw school district to provided support services for students and staff mourning Kirkland.

“It’s evident there was speed involved in this collision, and certainly if we believe the facts to bear out that this person was impaired, he should have never been behind the wheel,” White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook said at a news conference Sunday. “This is a preventable crime, should not have happened at all, and we will hold the person responsible accountable.”