HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Two people are dead, and one is in critical condition after a police chase ended in a crash in northwest Harris County Saturday afternoon, according to Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.
Constable Herman said the suspects lost control of their vehicle at Gleannloch and Highway 99. A captain with Precinct 4 said the suspect's vehicle hit a concrete control box, which acted as a ramp sending the car airborne.
The chase started a little before 4 p.m. after constables tried to stop the suspects, who were allegedly involved in stealing catalytic converters at several locations off of Highway 290 and Highway 99.
Family members of those who were possibly inside the car are still trying to figure out if their loved ones survived today.
"My niece was on the phone with him, saying that the police are chasing him?
said said a relative who came out to the scene. "And I was like, for what? When I got on the phone, I was like, 'For what? Why are they chasing him.'"
In scanner traffic from Rangecast, you can hear deputies say the car was traveling well over 100 miles an hour eastbound on 99.
At one point, deputy constables lost track of the car on the freeway, but one deputy was able to catch up and witnessed the terrible wreck as the car exited Champion Forest
"They were going a little too fast for the curve," said Captain James Blackledge with Harris County Precinct 4. "Went off road, car flipped and went end over end, striking several trees."
They tell us the car was airborne for a bit. The deputy who was still following was able to jump into action,
"At one point, the vehicle after impact did catch on fire. We only had one unit that, he was within view when they did crash. He did quickly exit the vehicle pulled the one male who was still alive out and extinguished the vehicle with a fire extinguisher."
Two of the suspects died on the scene. Their ages are still unclear. The third person was taken to the hospital.
Herman said catalytic converters were recovered at the scene.