A 14-year-old Aldine boy has been charged with murder after his SUV struck a pick-up truck and killed the woman driver.
The accident occurred last Tuesday at about 2:20 pm, at the corner of Aldine Mail Route and Aldine Westfield Road.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told the media that the SUV driver was traveling at a high rate of speed westbound on Aldine Mail, failed to stop at a red light, and struck the side of a red Ford F-150 pick-up headed southbound on Aldine Westfield. The driver of the pick-up, Silvia Zavala, 45, was killed in the accident.
The GMC Acadia SUV that struck the truck had three teenage boys inside, who had been throwing eggs at passing cars. One of the cars hit by the eggs decided to chase the boys, and they were traveling at a high rate of speed to avoid being caught. Some reports say the driver of the car chasing them brandished a gun, adding to the mayhem. The 14-year-old SUV driver suffered a broken ankle, one other was injured and taken to LBJ hospital, and the third was not injured, in spite of the fact that both vehicles were thrown up into the air by the impact, landing in a ditch along Aldine Mail Route. The pick-up in which the woman died was upside down, and torn apart by the crash.
The car that was chasing the SUV did not stop, and authorities said they know who was driving it, and are planning to interview him. He may face charges, too, pending a planned presentation to a grand jury by the District Attorney’s office. Failure to stop and render aid in an accident is a second-degree felony. Witnesses said he was driving a gold older Lincoln Continental sedan with a white top. He was identified as an Hispanic male in his late 20s with a tattoo on his left arm.
The accident was captured on video by two nearby stores, on their surveillance cameras. The impact was astonishing, unlike anything imaginable.
The mother of they boy, in a television interview, said he took the car keys she had hidden from him, while she was at church. She said the driver chasing him was at fault, not her son, because he was “running for his life.” She said she was asking for forgiveness for her son. She says he is a good kid, who studies and goes to church.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Gonzalez says that the boy has been “booked in the county juvenile detention center,” pending further action by the District Attorney’s office.