In a surprising turn of events in Houston's Heights neighborhood, a police cruiser ended up partially submerged in a family's pool after crashing through a fence last night. The incident, which happened around 5:35 p.m., involved a Houston Police officer who was in pursuit of a driver displaying erratic behavior. As reported by ABC13, the officer had turned on his lights, though not his siren, while heading westbound on White Oak Drive when he collided with a Land Rover proceeding northbound, subsequently careening through the fence and into the pool where children had been swimming moments before. Thankfully, there were no injuries to the children, and the officer sustained only a minor leg injury.
ABC13 quoted Senior Captain Ross Emblad of the Houston Fire Department saying, "Where car ended up on the sun ledge, if you're familiar with that it's a real shallow part where people hangout in chairs and stuff and if somebody was sitting there, I mean, the unthinkable could have happened."
Eyewitnesses and surrounding residents expressed their shock at the unprecedented sight of a police SUV dangling in a pool, with KPRC 2 capturing footage that soon became the talk of the area. The quiet of a Sunday evening was abruptly pierced when the officer struck the white Land Rover attempting to cross the intersection, leading to his vehicle's unintended aquatic parking spot.
"It’s shocking that the car didn’t hit the post or the stop sign and just went right between, right through the fence," Pamela Ferguson, a resident in the area, told KPRC 2. The homeowner also reported to ABC13 that the children in the pool were unharmed in what unfolded as a close call. The HPD has indicated that an investigation into the crash remains ongoing, with the officer and the driver of the Land Rover both avoiding serious injury.
Adding to the complexity of the crash site, the Houston Fire Department's HAZMAT team responded to the incident to manage a fuel leak from the police cruiser's gas tank. Senior Captain Ross Emblad highlighted just how fortunate it was that no one was in the path of the vehicle as it plunged through the fence, especially considering the pool's popularity among neighborhood children. "We did hear from the homeowners that there were people in the spa area, just prior to it or just right around the same time but nobody was injured as far as any homeowners or individuals that lived at the house," Elmblad conveyed in a statement obtained by KPRC 2.
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