Woman, baby die in crash
Woman, infant killed in collision on Gulf Freeway feeder road
Authorities said alcohol may have been a factor in fatal crashes late Tuesday and early Wednesday that left three dead in the Houston area, including a woman and infant.
The woman and infant were in a black compact car that was hit from behind by an SUV on the southbound service road of Gulf Freeway at El Dorado, police said. Police arrived before 4 a.m. and saw that the two in the compact car were dead.
The driver and passenger of the SUV were transported to the hospital. The driver, 20-year-old Veronica Rivas, is being held in custody. She faces two felony counts of intoxication manslaughter, police announced Wednesday evening.
Speeding might have been a factor in the wreck, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department.
The relationship between the woman and infant is unknown.
Hours earlier, a police chase ended fatally Tuesday night when the driver’s car burst into flames, jumped over a bridge and crashed in a bayou in the Homestead area.
A Houston police officer spotted the driver speeding on Parker near Hardy around 11:20 p.m. The officer tried to stop him, but he sped up while running lights and stop signs eastbound on Parker, all while running cars off the road, police said.
As he came to a curve in the road near Halls Bayou, the driver hit a concrete wall, causing his car to go about 15 feet in the air, Houston police said. His car burst into flames almost immediately and crashed down at the foot of the bayou. Officers went into the water to try to rescue him, but the car’s gas tank exploded and completely engulfed the vehicle in flames.
The driver, who was 33, died in the car. He was possibly intoxicated, police said.
The chase lasted 8 miles and about five minutes.
The officer pursuing the driver was unable to use a maneuver recently implemented by the Houston Police Department designed to end deadly chases.
Officers who use the Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, drive next to a fleeing suspect, match the car’s speed and then nudge the rear corner of the vehicle behind the back wheel. If done properly, the maneuver forces the fleeing vehicle to spin out safely and stop, causing little damage to either vehicle.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo announced in November that officers would begin using the method in chases, but he said that police wouldn’t be using the maneuver at high speeds.
In Tuesday night’s crash, the officer apparently never caught up to the point where he would have been able to execute the maneuver, police said.