By Dawn Burleigh

The Orange Leader

 

Carl Jacob Broussard requested a trail on Friday morning at the 260^th District Court in Orange. A date for the trial has not been set at this time.

Broussard, a former assistant coach for West Orange – Cove CISD football varsity and junior varsity teams. He is also a powerlifting coach and a building trades instructor.

Broussard was charged with the auto-pedestrian deaths of a kindergarten student enrolled in the district and her mother.

LaMya Newhouse, 6, and her mother, Ava Lewis, 25, were hit while crossing the street in the 2200 block of MacArthur Drive on November 2, 2015.

Each case is a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

Broussard first came to the attention of police detectives after a caller told them a relative might know about the incident. The detectives contacted this relative, who said the suspect would later turn himself in at the police department, according to a previous Orange Leader article.

During an interview with detectives at the station, Broussard admitted to being involved in the accident on MacArthur. He said he was driving west in the 2200 block of MacArthur in a 1993 Geo Prism.

Accord to Broussard’s account, he was in the turning lane to turn south on Donnell Street. He said he heard a thud, which caused damage to the front windshield.

After turning south on Donnell Street, he turned left into a private parking lot. He said he stayed in the parking lot for five to 10 seconds before leaving without checking to see what he had hit.

Broussard then went to his girlfriend’s residence and showed her the car’s damage. His girlfriend went back to the scene and saw that two people had been hit, the affidavit said.

At the scene, Broussard’s girlfriend called him to tell him what she saw.

The deaths of Newhouse and Lewis led to an outcry for lights along MacArthur Drive. The stretch of road has come to city officials attention before, when an automobile accident killed another child.

Loleecia Hughey, 2, was killed when a vehicle hit her Nov. 23, 2011, in the 2500 block of MacArthur, the day after Thanksgiving. Loleecia’s death also prompted requests for lights along the street.

Texas Department of Transportation was requested to do a study to determine if more traffic lights or streetlights were needed.

TxDOT determined there was not enough traffic turning from the side streets along the road to warrant traffic signals, according to minutes from the city of Pinehurst council meetings.

The survey also determined street lights were not needed because of the lack of nighttime accidents. If the connecting cities installed streetlights, TxDOT would not bear the expense of installing or operating them.

City officials have continued to address the matter to find a solution to increase visibility to the road.