Three people were taken to a hospital after a Houston police chase ended in a crash in downtown Houston Wednesday night, with officers saying all three occupants were found unconscious inside the vehicle once it finally stopped. Investigators believe the occupants may have ingested narcotics, though their exact conditions were not immediately available.
According to Click2Houston, Northeast patrol officers attempted to stop a suspicious vehicle near the 4900 block of Bostic Street at around 8:38 p.m. on Oct. 21. The driver failed to stop, touching off a pursuit that wound through the city for about eight minutes before officers used a PIT maneuver to bring the vehicle to a halt near the 1100 block of North San Jacinto Street in downtown Houston.
Once the car stopped, officers discovered all three people inside were unconscious, the outlet's report states. Police said they believe the occupants may have ingested narcotics, though that detail remains an officer belief rather than a confirmed finding. Police said the three were expected to be OK, even though their specific medical conditions had not been released as of the report.
Houston police say the incident remains under investigation, and no further details about the vehicle, the driver, or any possible charges had been released at the time of the reports.
How Houston Polices High-Speed Pursuits
The PIT maneuver used to end Wednesday night's chase is not new to Houston police tactics. The department's use of the technique dates back to 2017, when then-Chief Art Acevedo announced that officers would begin employing the Precision Immobilization Technique to end pursuits, according to AP News. The Houston Police Department also maintains a general order, numbered 600-04 and titled Motor Vehicle Pursuits, within its public index of policies, though the specific rules governing when officers may initiate a chase were not available in the records reviewed.
Broader tracking of these incidents is limited. Texas is among the majority of states that do not track police pursuits initiated by law enforcement agencies statewide, per KERA News, meaning there is no statewide figure for how often chases like Wednesday's end in crashes or hospitalizations.
A Pattern Of Pursuits Ending In Injury
Wednesday's crash echoes a separate incident in southeast Houston, where three people were hurt after a stolen vehicle crashed into a business following a pursuit, according to CW39. In that case, the chase began when an officer attempted a traffic stop on Scott Street near Barberry Drive in Sunnyside, and the vehicle ultimately crashed into the business and struck an unoccupied car parked outside. Two people inside the business suffered minor cuts while the driver sustained superficial injuries, and all three were hospitalized as a precaution, the station reported.
