September 21, 2015 – Houston police are investigating a fatal crash at 6100 South Loop East (South Interstate Highway 610 East) about 9:20 p.m. on Sunday (September 20).
The two male victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities are pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
HPD Vehicular Crimes Division Sergeant A. Thomas and Officer M. Pritchard reported:
The driver of a gray Dodge Durango lost control of his vehicle while traveling on the South Loop and struck a guardrail near the Long Drive exit after his pit-bull jumped in the front seat with him. The driver then stopped his vehicle in the far right lane of moving traffic with a broken axle. His dog jumped out of the vehicle. As the driver of the Durango attempted to catch his dog on the freeway, two other vehicles (a black Dodge Charger and a gray Ford Mustang) pulled off to the side of the road in front of the Durango to help the dog owner. While the group of people tried to help catch the dog, a green Toyota Echo pulled up on the side of the road behind and to the right of the Durango and the passenger got out to help catch the dog.
Once the dog was caught, the driver of the Echo pulled his vehicle behind the Durango and waited for his passenger to get back in his vehicle. As the driver of the Charger shook hands with the passenger of the Echo they heard tires squealing, the driver of the Charger jumped over the concrete barrier into the bushes just as a white Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, traveling at a high rate of speed on the South Loop, saw the Toyota Echo stopped in a moving lane of traffic and swerved to the right to avoid striking the vehicle. The pickup truck struck the passenger side of the Echo and the passenger of the Echo. As the pickup truck swerved back into the moving lanes of traffic, the driver of the Durango was struck. A black Chevrolet Silverado then struck the passenger of the Echo a second time as he was getting up and came to a stop after striking the rear of the Ford Mustang, which then struck the black Dodge Charger.
The driver of the white Silverado pickup truck jumped out of the truck, over the rail into the bushes and vanished. His vehicle had paper tags and had not been registered yet.
The dog ran off and was not found.
The freeway reopened at 3am.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the driver of the white Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck is urged to contact the HPD Hit and Run Unit at 713-247-4065 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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