Two police chases end at same intersection

A Houston police car engaged in a high-speed pursuit Thursday night smashed into another car, sending five people to the hospital. Less than an hour later, a Harris County Sheriff’s Office pursuit ended with a crash at the same intersection.

The first crash began around 8:30 p.m. when a Houston police officer found what looked to be a stolen vehicle, said Michael Chaney, commander of the Houston Police Department’s vehicle crimes division. The officer turned on the emergency lights to stop the vehicle, but the driver of the car took off and police began the chase.

The two vehicles were headed north on Aldine-Westfield Road and traveled through a red light at the intersection at Little York Road. The officer’s patrol car pursued and collided with a vehicle heading east through the intersection. Two officers in the patrol car and three people inside the other vehicle were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, police said. The fleeing vehicle crashed into two other cars and the driver and a passenger were arrested.

While Houston investigators were examining the first crash, sheriff’s deputies chased another car through the same intersection.

The second chase began around 8:56 p.m. when a deputy tried to conduct a stop in the 11800 block of Seven Mile Lane because of a traffic violation, sheriff’s office spokesman Thomas Gilliland said. The vehicle didn’t stop and the fleeing vehicle turned west in the 2300 block of Little York Road. The vehicle couldn’t accelerate because of traffic and turned near the 11800 block of Aldine-Westfield, where it entered the scene of the Houston police investigation. The vehicle struck a vehicle from the first crash and then drove into a ditch. Deputies then detained the driver and a passenger.

It was not immediately known how fast the vehicles were traveling during the pursuit.

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner earlier this year announced changes to the department’s chase policies after a steady increase of pursuits and pursuit-related crashes, injuries and deaths over the past year.

In the month since the policy change, high-speed chases initiated by Houston police dropped 40 percent.