HOUSTON – Surveillance video recorded by cameras at two nearby businesses showed the moment a vehicle investigators said was being driven by a 14-year-old boy ran a red light and slammed into a vehicle, killing a woman on New Year's Day.
The crash was reported about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Aldine Mail Route and Aldine Westfield Road.
Investigators said teens in a GMC Acadia were throwing eggs at another driver, who began to chase the teens’ SUV. Investigators said the SUV ran a red light at 60 mph and crashed into 45-year-old Silvia Zavala’s pickup.
Zavala died in the crash.
The teens reported that the driver who was chasing them brandished a gun, investigators said. That driver did not stop at the scene of the crash, investigators said.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said investigators identified the driver of the pursuing vehicle.
The 14-year-old driver of the SUV is facing a murder charge in connection with the crash.
The teens suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, deputies said.
Neighbors of the teen told Channel 2 Investigates they saw the 14-year-old driving around their neighborhood while his parents were at work.
One mother said she expressed her concerns to the teenager.
“One time I told him he was driving too fast, because the children were outside on bikes,” she said.
The boy is charged with murder. However, the other driver captured on surveillance chasing the SUV will have charges presented to a grand jury according to Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County’s DA’s Office Vehicular Crimes Unit.
“They would be under the failure to stop and render aid resulting in death, which is a second-degree felony,” Teare said.
The driver of the Continental has had very limited conversations with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Teare also said authorities found no evidence of an alleged gun being flashed by the driver in the Continental to the teens at this time.
