Houston police are investigating the fatal shooting of a suspect after he intentionally ran over and struck a Harris County Precinct 1 Deputy Constable at 1246 Mitchell Road about 10 p.m. on Wednesday (Sept. 1).
The identity of the suspect, 39, is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
The injured deputy was transported to Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center where he remains in critical, but stable condition.
Five deputies with the Precinct 1 Constable’s Office and one HPD officer discharged weapons in the incident. The HPD Officer, J. White, was sworn in as an officer in March 2017 and is assigned to the Northeast Patrol Division. None of the deputies or the officer was injured.
HPD Special Investigations Unit Sergeant G. Rodgers and Detectives E. Rossow, S. Mohajer and I. Ulloa reported:
Several deputies with the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office were in marked patrol units and attempting to stop a stolen black Volkswagen Atlas SUV as it travelled the wrong way on Hardy Road. When deputies turned on their emergency lights and sirens in an attempt to stop the vehicle, the driver (suspect) ignored all signals to stop and proceeded to lead deputy constables on a high speed chase. During the pursuit, the deputies requested assistance from HPD. Several HPD marked patrol units assisted in the vehicle pursuit, which lasted approximately 20 minutes. During the pursuit, the suspect pulled into the front yard of a home at the above address and quickly backed the vehicle into the driveway. The primary patrol unit, a Precinct 1 Constable Sergeant, blocked the driveway with his vehicle so the suspect could not pull back into the roadway and continue to flee in the vehicle. At that point, the suspect put the vehicle in reverse and, at a high rate of speed, crashed into the home with such force that the back half of the vehicle was inside the home.
Numerous deputies began to converge on the vehicle. As they did so, the suspect drove the vehicle forward at a high rate of speed and ran directly over a deputy and dragged him approximately 20 feet until the suspect struck the marked constable vehicle that blocked his path. At that time, five Precinct 1 Constable deputies and one HPD officer discharged their duty weapons, striking the suspect as he was in the driver’s seat of the crashed vehicle.
Paramedics pronounced the suspect deceased. The injured deputy was transported by Life Flight helicopter to the hospital. During the shooting, one Precinct 1 Constable sergeant was struck in the left leg by a ricocheted bullet. Paramedics treated the sergeant at the scene.
The investigation is ongoing.
As is customary when a law enforcement officer discharges a weapon in the city limits of Houston, the incident is being investigated by the HPD Special Investigations Unit and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
JFC/VHS 9-2-21
Inc #118345221