Tragedy struck on a Houston freeway earlier this month, when a vehicular nightmare claimed the life of a 3-year-old girl, whose name is yet to be confirmed by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The fatal incident unfolded around 8:05 p.m. on March 3, according to a statement obtained by the Houston Police Department, and the subsequent days saw the young victim wrestled from her impending future after a rideshare disaster escalated to a hit-and-run horror.
The chaos began near West Gulf Bank Road and Sweetwater Lane, where a white Ford F-350 pickup truck, operated by a 26-year-old male, rear-ended a white Toyota Sienna, the latter driven by a 41-year-old rideshare driver and carrying a family of three, the young girl among them, the mother, age 35, and the father, age 44 and although the Ford shuttlecocked the Toyota into a parking lot, then back onto the North Freeway service road, it was at the intersection with West Road that the two vehicles met again, tangled, and sent the Toyota careening off the road into a traffic control box.
Details from the Houston PD’s report, that an unknown witness quickly transported the child and her mother to an area emergency room from where the child was then moved to Texas Children’s Hospital while the Houston Fire Department paramedics ferried the injured father to HCA Hospital Northwest.
The aftermath of the wreck had witnesses detain the Ford driver until law enforcement arrived at the scene and after noting signs of intoxication, police facilitated a blood draw, his identity has not been disclosed. Fendia and Betancourt of the HPD Vehicular Crimes Division are leading a narrative of contradictions.
On March 11, a mere eight days following the incident, doctors declared the child deceased. This development led to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office's decision, as reported by officials, that the case would go before a grand jury to determine the course of justice in the wake of such senseless loss.
