A Houston man already free on bond for four other pending cases is now facing new felony charges after police say he stole an unattended SUV with two children inside and led officers on a 17.5-mile chase that topped 110 mph before the vehicle slammed into a barrier on the East Freeway. The chase began shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday in northeast Houston, and both children — ages 2 and 12 — were found safe once it was over.
Robert Gonzales is accused of taking a red Chevrolet Tahoe with the two children still inside, according to ABC13 Houston. Court records cited by the station say Gonzales reached speeds of more than 100 mph, hitting 110 mph at points, as Houston police pursued the stolen SUV for 17.5 miles before the chase ended on the East Freeway.
The pursuit came to a violent stop when the Tahoe sideswiped a truck driven by 17-year-old Bayron Rodriguez, who was riding in the back seat of another vehicle at the time, per the same account. Rodriguez said he was simply listening to music when the stolen car hit his vehicle from the side, and moments later his brother crashed into the rear of the Tahoe as the collision forced it into a barrier.
Chaos on the Shoulder After the Crash
Rodriguez described a swarm of law enforcement descending on the wreck, saying four police cars surrounded the vehicles once everything came to a stop. No one was seriously hurt in the crash, including the two children who had been riding in the stolen Tahoe, the outlet's report notes.
The children's father told the station he was thankful his children were safe, calling the entire ordeal frightening. Gonzales was arrested at the scene after the stolen SUV crashed, and he now faces four new charges: two felony counts of endangering a child, evading arrest, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
What the New Charges Could Mean
Under Texas Penal Code § 22.041, endangering a child is a state jail felony carrying 180 days to two years behind bars and fines up to $10,000, and it applies whenever conduct recklessly places a child under 15 in imminent danger — prosecutors do not need to show the child was actually hurt, according to the Meza Law Firm. Fleeing from officers in a vehicle, rather than on foot, automatically elevates evading arrest from a misdemeanor to a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in state prison, per the Ceja Law Firm. The unauthorized use of a motor vehicle charge, meanwhile, is a state jail felony under § 31.07 that applies whenever someone operates another person's vehicle without consent, regardless of the car's value, according to the Law Office of David D. White, PLLC.
Gonzales was already out on bond on four other charges at the time of his arrest, and two of those earlier cases were also evading arrest charges, ABC13's reporting shows. It remains unclear what conditions governed his prior bond or why he was released while already facing multiple evading arrest allegations — questions that could shape whether prosecutors seek a higher bond or ask that he be held without bail this time.
Why Houston Police Still Chase Stolen Cars
Houston police maintained the pursuit despite its length and speed because department policy treats stolen vehicles differently from minor traffic stops. Under HPD's pursuit policy overhauled in September 2023, officers are barred from chasing suspects solely over Class C misdemeanors or non-violent warrants, but pursuits of stolen vehicles remain authorized because department leadership has said suspects frequently use stolen cars to commit violent crimes, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
That 2023 overhaul, credited to former HPD Chief Troy Finner, has coincided with a 35% drop in total high-speed chases across the city, falling from roughly 1,650 pursuits to about 1,060 in the 11 months that followed, per Chronicle data. Even so, the same reporting found that about one in three Houston police chases still ends in a crash — a statistic Sunday's East Freeway pursuit fits squarely into, given how the stolen Tahoe sideswiped Rodriguez's truck and was ultimately forced into a barrier.
The stakes behind that policy are not abstract. In the eight months before HPD tightened its rules in 2023, chases across the city had already caused 172 injuries and four deaths, the Chronicle reported at the time. One of those tragic outcomes came just days before the new policy was announced, when a pursuit of a stolen vehicle ended in a fatal multi-car crash in South Houston that killed the mother of an HPD sergeant and injured two other people. Officers themselves have paid the price too — in May 2015, Officer Richard K. Martin was killed in West Houston after a stolen van struck him while he deployed spike strips during a pursuit, according to the Houston Police Department.
Part of a Broader Pattern This Summer
Sunday's chase is the latest in a string of Harris County stolen-vehicle cases this summer that have put children at risk. In July, deputies recovered three children unharmed following a reported carjacking elsewhere in the Houston area, a case Hoodline previously covered as part of a broader trend of local vehicle thefts and carjackings logged across the county throughout the season.
For now, the two children found in the stolen Tahoe — ages 2 and 12 — are home safe, and Gonzales faces a fresh set of felony charges layered on top of the four cases already pending against him.
