Legendary Houston attorney John O'Quinn was speeding on rain-slicked Allen Parkway near downtown when he lost control of his SUV and crashed into a tree Thursday morning, killing himself and his passenger, police said. Emergency workers labored to remove the bodies of O'Quinn, 68, and Johnny Lee Cutliff, 56, from the impaled Chevrolet Suburban after the 8 a.m. crash. Neither man was wearing a seat belt, police said. About an hour earlier, O'Quinn had been standing in the security line at Hobby Airport intending to catch a flight to San Antonio for a mediation. 'He shook my hand. He laughed. He had that great smile. He was John,' said former State District Judge Levi Benton, who was headed to Dallas and stood in line with O'Quinn. But O'Quinn's plans somehow changed after that brief encounter, and he left the airport. Houston attorney Dan Cogdell said he was in the airport at 9:30 a.m. when he heard an operator repeatedly paging O'Quinn, telling him to report to a Southwest Airlines gate for departure. 'It was very eerie,' Cogdell said. Cogdell said he later learned of O'Quinn's death after his own flight was canceled and he returned to his office to see an announcement from the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. Police must pull O'Quinn's vehicle's data computer to determine how fast he was driving. But witnesses told officers he appeared to be driving between 50 and 60 mph in a 40-mph zone, a Houston Police Department spokeswoman said. Investigators said it appeared the SUV veered to the left in the 1900 block of Allen Parkway, jumped a curb and careened over a grassy median, crossed the eastbound traffic lanes and hopped another curb onto a second median before smashing into the tree on the south side of road. Tire marks across the first median show the path of the hurtling Suburban. The slick road could have contributed to the crash, said police Lt. L.J. Satterwhite. Persistent drizzle was in the area around the time of the crash. The front end, hood, roof and passenger side of the Suburban were badly crumpled. The windshield was shattered, and the engine appeared to hang from the chassis. The battery, air filter and other debris were scattered on the service road about 20 yards west of the crash site. The driver's side airbag was deployed, as well as others around the vehicle. The force of the impact uprooted the nearly 30-foot-tall tree, which was one of several lining the second median. The Suburban's rear came to rest on top of the uprooted trunk. The tree was cut down so the Suburban could be towed off. Investigators and work crews were still at the crash site more than three hours after the wreck. Under light drizzle, workers sawed all the limbs from the tree and then pulled the SUV away from the scarred trunk. Houston police said the wreck is the sole fatal crash on the entire stretch of the Allen Parkway so far this year. HPD officials recorded no fatal wrecks on the Allen Parkway in 2008, 2007 and 2005. One fatal wreck occurred in 2006 and six in 2004. dale.lezon@chron.com peggy.ohare@chron.com mary.flood@chron.com 