A high-speed fatal police chase that ended with a suspected thief crashing into the Starbucks coffee shop at Bissonnet and S. Rice temporarily closed that intersection, according to city of Bellaire officials.
The suspect died at the scene, and at least one other person was injured. There were eight customers and two employees inside the Starbucks when the crash happened.The scene is being managed by the Houston Police Department.
All but one lane of traffic were opened at about 4:30 p.m., according to the Bellaire Police Department. The eastbound lane on Bissonnet closest to the Starbucks remains closed.
HPD spokesman John Cannon said the crash happened shortly after HPD officers from the Westside Tactical Division noticed a “suspicious” man leaving the Game Stop store, at about 11:40 a.m., with several gaming systems. Officers in the tactical divisions drive unmarked vehicles and wear plainclothes, not uniforms. That store is located at Weslayan and Bissonnet.
A few of the Houston officers went inside the store to investigate, and were told by several employees that the man had “put on a mask” and “robbed them at gunpoint” to get the gaming systems. Those officers radioed another HPD tactical division vehicle and let those officers know that the suspect was driving a brown, 2003 Chevrolet Impala. They continued to follow the suspect, but called for a marked patrol unit to assist in stopping the suspect.
“They did that at Academy and Bissonnet,” Cannon said. “So the pursuit began. The suspect now sees a marked patrol car and he speeds away. He flees that marked patrol car at a high rate of speed.”
The marked patrol car was “about 100 yards away” from the suspect’s vehicle as he approached the intersection of S. Rice and Bissonnet in Bellaire, Cannon said.
A woman who was driving a white Honda Pilot south on S. Rice “had the green light as she was going through the intersection,” Cannon said.
“The suspect ran the red light and struck the front of her truck. His vehicle then struck and took down the pedestrian walk light, sideswiped a Lexus in the parking lot and crashed into the Starbucks store,” Cannon said.
“The owner of the Lexus that was in the parking lot was sitting at a table near the windows. He managed to only suffer minor injuries from flying glass and debris,” Cannon said. The man was initially treated at the scene by paramedics, and said that he would later see his own physician, Cannon said.
“Obviously, we are very fortunate there weren’t more injuries than that,” Cannon said.
The driver of the Honda gave police a witness statement, Cannon said.
Cannon said that Houston police discovered a BB gun “right outside of the suspect’s crashed vehicle.”
Inside the car, officers found several gaming systems that were taken in the Game Stop robbery, Cannon said.
“There were a number of other items, as well,” Cannon said.
Cannon said the only information that HPD has available about the suspect is that the man appeared to be in his 20s, or 30s.
But, officers from the Westside Tactical Division said that the man’s description, method of operation in the Game Stop robbery and the vehicle used “may have been involved in more than a dozen business robberies on the west and southwest side of Houston,” Cannon said.
“It’s very, very fortunate there weren’t more innocent civilians involved,” Cannon said.
As is routine, “these incidents are always investigated by HPD Internal Affairs, as well as the Traffic and Accident division,” Cannon said.
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