Driver charged after crash that killed Dallas couple

Man who ran a red light, hit pickup now faces two counts of intoxication manslaughter

Cedric “C.J.” and Lauren Davis had dedicated their young marriage to helping people through their Arlington church, but Nov. 13 was supposed to be a Friday evening for themselves, with a Dallas Mavericks game as a gift.

“C.J.’s birthday was that Monday before, and Lauren had bought the Mavs tickets to surprise him,” said her mother, Tammy Benthall.

They never made it to their seats. As they walked from a restaurant to the American Airlines Center, they were struck down by a car that ran a red light and collided with a pickup at the intersection of Harry Hines Boulevard and Moody Street, Dallas police said.

The driver of the car, Kevin Michael Christman, 30, of Dallas has been charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter. He was released from jail after posting $100,000 bail, police said.

Cedric Davis died the night of the crash, and Lauren Davis died the next morning, said an official with the Dallas County medical examiner’s office.

The pair were laid to rest side by side Saturday in Kennedale.

“We’ve done everything in our power to keep them together,” said Cedric Davis’ mother, Susan, managing to chuckle. “Not that they’ve ever been apart much. From three or four years before they got married, you’d always see them together.”

The couple shared a lifechanging experience last year when they accompanied a group from Fielder Church to Chile, where they continued work to rebuild a church destroyed in a magnitude-8.8 earthquake in 2010.

“They just had so many plans for the future,” Benthall said. “This is really sad that we only had them for 26 years. I know from the bottom of my heart they’re with the Lord, and yet I wish I could have had them just a little bit longer.”