HOUSTON – Police are investigating a fatal auto-pedestrian accident involving a Houston Fire Department vehicle.
It happened at around 12:45 p.m. Thursday in the 300 block of S. Jensen near Kennedy in northeast Houston.
"It happened so fast. I kind of turned and looked and I heard the wheels hit the curb. I looked and I saw him there mangled up under there," said a witness.
Houston police say the HFD vehicle and another car were involved in the crash.
Police say a white Buick failed to maintain a single lane of traffic and struck the HFD vehicle, causing it to drive up over a curb and hit a person.
Witnesses say a group of people were sitting on a stoop near the sidewalk at the time of the incident, but two were able to get out of the way.
"I seen it airborne. The tires were up like that and landed," said the witness.
The male victim was pinned under the HFD vehicle and died at the scene. His identity is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
HFD spokesman Capt. Ruy Lozano says the driver of the fire department vehicle is a civilian HFD employee. They were taken to a local hospital out of precaution.
Lozano says the HFD vehicle involved in the crash was not responding to a call because it is not equipped with emergency lights or a sirens.
HFD officials say their civilian employee was taken to the hospital. HFD is not currently releasing his name or position.