Kyli Phillips, 26, has been charged with DWI.
The woman who struck and killed a pedestrian at Abrams Road near Northwest Highway Friday night was allegedly drunk driving, and it wasn’t her first time to climb behind the wheel while under the influence, Fox 4 News reports. Dallas police have charged her with driving while intoxicated.
Just after 8 p.m. officers were called to the scene of an accident in the 6000 block of Abrams Road near McDonald’s. They determined that Kyli Phillips, 26, had been driving a white Chevy Camaro northbound in the middle lane of traffic toward Skillman Street when she attempted to change lanes. She hit Howard Graham, 63, as he was crossing the road.
After the crash, a witness approached the driver and watched her exit the vehicle “clutching an alcoholic beverage in a can,” according to Fox 4 News. She and a dog were alone in the car.
Police investigators noted the strong smell of alcohol coming from Phillips’ breath and car and saw that her eyes were red and watery. When they asked if she’d been drinking alcohol, she said, “I plead the fifth.” She refused to take field sobriety tests.
Folks at Benny’s Convenience Store, located next door to McDonald’s, said Graham had just left their shop to return to his home at The Hive Apartments across the street. Like many pedestrians in that stretch of Abrams, Graham had not been using the crosswalk.
Phillips was taken into custody at the scene. According to Fox 4, she had previously been convicted of DWI in Van Zandt County in 2018 and Southlake in 2022. Texas law raises a third DWI conviction to a felony offense.
