‘It needs to stop’
Deadly crash at street takeovers leads to calls for crackdown
When Thomas Lawson pulled up at a Sunday night car meet in northwest Harris County, it felt like a bomb had just gone off. People were yelling and running. Dust hung in the air. Black tire marks pointed to a scene of wreckage.
Lawson, a certified nursing assistant, had shown up to promote his car wrapping business and celebrate his birthday with friends. Instead, his medical training kicked in. He left his car running and rushed to the scene. Seconds had passed since a yellow Chevrolet Camaro — speeding more than 100 mph — smashed into a Chevrolet Malibu, which slammed into bystanders. Three bodies lay in the roadway. Two boys, still breathing, were laid out next to each other with bent limbs, Lawson said. Another man appeared to be dead.
“Keep breathing; I know it’s hurting,” Lawson said to the unconscious children while he helped paramedics. He slipped a pair of cowboy boots off the younger boy’s feet. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but listen to my voice. Listen to my voice.”
Helicopters whisked the children, identified as brothers DeCarerick Kennedy, 16, and Faybian Hoisington, 14, to the hospital, where they died. The 35-year-old victim, Roger Glov
er, was a tourist from New Jersey. All three had stopped at the parking lot along the U.S. 290 feeder road near West Little York to check out the decked-out cars. They were killed when the 22year-old Camaro driver decided to pull a dangerous “fly-by” stunt as the car meet devolved into a more dangerous street takeover, authorities said.
The crash was the deadliest incident since street takeovers and racing have gained popularity across the Houston area in the past few years. The pandemic has only exacerbated the problem, which Sheriff Ed Gonzalez referred to as an “epidemic.” The deaths, which mark the worstcase outcome that authorities have long feared, have prompted law enforcement, family members and car club members alike to call for a renewed crackdown.
“It needs to stop,” said Lawson, a car enthusiast who drives a Dodge Charger Scat Pack. “That was the last straw right there.”
Active scene
Authorities have pledged to reup their efforts to track down violators, arrest people and impound cars at street takeovers, said Sean Teare, head of the Vehicular Crimes Division at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Last March, the Houston Police Department, Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety and other area agencies announced a joint strike team tasked with tackling the issue. The strike team had by then made 71 arrests. Soon after, however, pandemic restrictions hindered their efforts while emboldening people with lots of free time to perform stunts in the near-empty streets.
The task force could not provide the Chronicle with comprehensive statistics, but intermittent reports from authorities, interviews with law enforcement, media reports and social media accounts show an active street takeover scene across Harris County and Houston.
The organized group gatherings typically entail drivers blocking off an intersection, parking lot or stretch of highway to perform stunts, do doughnuts and race at high speeds in front of an audience with their phones out filming.
The first weekend in February, officers arrested 15 people, cited more than 100 others and impounded a number of cars at takeover busts, Police Chief Art Acevedo said in a news briefing earlier this month.
Police were limited in their ability to arrest people for lowerlevel
offenses last year due to pandemic jail restrictions, Acevedo said. Those arrests “are now happening,” he said. “We continue to aggressively go after this.”
Last year, the joint task force made 22 arrests between Nov. 29 and Dec. 31 for evading, reckless driving, weapon carry and other charges, according to preliminary information provided by Houston police. Additionally, law enforcement recorded more than 1,600 moving and nonmoving traffic violations — some committed by the same person — stemming from street takeovers.
Poor visibility, alcohol, firearms and young inexperienced drivers seeking social media stardom create a “toxic mix,” said Capt. Tommy Shelton of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
The incidents are often fluid, Shelton said, with drivers moving to a variety of locations
across jurisdictional lines in a single night. High-quality, smooth concrete thoroughfares with easy access from feeder roads are particularly popular spots, he said, but “it happens everywhere.”
“It’s wreaking havoc on the public,” said Shelton, a District 4 patrol captain. “It’s not uncommon for us to find weapons on the drivers or even the people there. … And you got underage drinking going on, and then you got this car that’s slinging in the pit, and then next thing you know somebody could be injured or killed — and it does happen.”
A ‘subculture’ is born
With hundreds of miles of highways looping the city, Houston’s car culture has thrived for decades. Some car clubs parade to Galveston, others park and mingle with auto enthusiasts,
and many clubs are involved in helping their communities.
But in the wake of a brazen incident in December 2018, Teare said, a new subculture was born.
Members of the Lonestar Slabs parked their candy-colored custom rides on Interstate 45 and brought traffic to halt beneath the “Be Someone” overpass downtown. Nearly a dozen drivers were charged with misdemeanor crimes. Some of them have since been charged in connection with other street takeovers.
“A subculture has evolved that doesn’t think it’s enough to sit in a parking lot with your hood open,” Teare said. “What’s evolved is getting out and seeing how outrageous your behavior can be on the roads.”
A recent incident highlights the bold, dangerous nature of such gatherings.
A couple was returning home in late January when they stumbled upon a street takeover near their apartment. Drivers slowed and parked around them, blocking the couple from leaving as two drivers spun in circles at the intersection of Enclave Parkway and Forkland Drive in west Houston. The Chronicle agreed not to identify the victims due to their safety concerns.
People surrounded and banged on the car, shouted and broke the windshield, the woman said. Her fiancé stepped on the gas and sped off. Someone fired two shots in the direction of the fleeing car, striking the trunk but injuring no one. The shooter has not been identified, police said.
“We have no idea where that second bullet went,” the woman said. “It could’ve ended up in one of his friends, in another vehicle — I mean it could have ended up anywhere, and he had no regard for life.”
Families mourn
Sherkeitha Kennedy, whose two eldest sons were killed at the car meet, is left with memories of their smiles. The mother joined a prayer circle with friends and family before recently entering St. Paul Baptist Church in Brookshire to address the death of her sons.
“I’m going to miss everything about them,” Kennedy said.
The boys, their mother said, loved cars and jumped at the opportunity to see dozens of flashy rides parked about a block from their grandmother’s house. She slammed the driver’s stunt as “irresponsible illegal racing” and called on law enforcement to crack down on such behavior.
The driver, Andrew Mock, has been charged with two counts of manslaughter and one count of aggravated assault. His bond was set at a combined $80,000 for the three charges. The Magnolia man bonded out of jail Thursday under the conditions that he surrender his driver’s license and passport and submit to electronic monitoring. Authorities towed the Camaro.
Members of the Houston car club community said they do not condone street takeovers or illicit racing, and worry they will be unfairly lumped in with the more dangerous stunt groups.
Car club leaders have spoken up to rebuke the reckless behavior since the fatal crash, said Antonio Johnson, president of Street Legends car club.
His group is like a family, said Johnson, who drives an SS Camaro. They gather for park-andchill events and host events to help the community but do not engage in street takeovers or racing on highways.
“It’s our getaway from our everyday life and everyday troubles,” he said. About the dangerous stunts, he said, “I’ve talked to everybody. I’ve made it clear we don’t want to see anything like that.”
The Houston car community organized a Friday meet-up in East Downtown where they will raise money for the families of the victims.
“We’re praying for the family,” Johnson said. “Nobody wants to see stuff like that happen.”