Teen suspects expected to face charges in crash

Two teenage robbery suspects are expected to face charges after causing a fatal crash Thursday while driving a stolen vehicle in southwest Houston, according to authorities.

The driver, 15, likely will face a murder charge, said Sean Teare with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The passenger, believed to be 16, could be charged with aggravated robbery for an unrelated incident, Teare said. The female victim has not been identified.

The crash was reported around 4 p.m. in the 8900 block of Troulon Drive in southwest Houston.

Before the incident, Houston police had been watching the vehicle because they knew it was stolen. They also believed the occupants were robbery suspects. At the time, marked patrol units were waiting on Beechnut to conduct a felony traffic stop and arrest the teenagers in that intersection.

The suspects, however, made an unexpected left turn onto Troulon Drive into a neighborhood, traveling at a high rate of speed, police said. Houston police couldn’t catch up to the vehicle before it ran through a stop sign at Jorine Drive, striking the woman’s car.

Police tried to rescue the woman, but she was trapped inside the vehicle. By the time firefighters pulled her from the wreckage, she was pronounced dead, police said.

Police did not find any weapons on the suspects, but Teare said they were involved in a “couple of different aggravated robberies.” He said investigators will also look into how the vehicle was stolen, and who the suspects may have been working with during the robberies.

Investigators do not believe the suspects in the vehicle stole it, he said.