Missouri City crash: Police officer involved in deadly crash of mother, son
MISSOURI CITY, Texas - A Missouri City police officer collided with a mother and her son in the Quail Valley area on Cartwright Road around 8:45 p.m. The victims, identified as Angela Stewart, 53, and her son Mason Stewart, 16, both residents of Stafford, lost their lives in the accident. Mason had celebrated his sixteenth birthday just the day before.
Grainy security video, from a nearby business, shows the fiery moment of impact between a speeding Missouri City police officer, and the mother and son, who were killed in the crash.
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It started as an armed robbery call at an ATM, just down Cartwright Road from the accident scene, just before 9 pm. Missouri City Police say young Mason Stewart, who just turned 16 years old, was driving with his mom, Angela. They pulled out into traffic as a Missouri City police officer who is believed to have been responding to the robbery call, slammed into their vehicle. The wreckage tumbled down the road 300 feet.
The mangled vehicles are a testament to the violent impact. Witnesses say they heard nothing, before the crash. "There weren't any sirens, or anything, before, but there were sirens on, after," says Amir Naseen, "I thought that was kinda' strange."
The collision resulted in the deaths of two occupants of the civilian vehicle. Both died at the scene. The officer driving the patrol car was taken to the hospital and has been released.
Also strange is the fact that more than two hours after the crash, first responders discovered an occupant in the back seat of the officer's patrol vehicle, with no idea who he was or why he was there. The injured man was taken to Ben Taub in unknown condition, but his presence raises the question 'why' the Missouri City officer may have been responding.
Missouri City Police Chief Brandon Harris addressed the incident, expressing uncertainty about the man's identity and how he ended up in the patrol car. Chief Harris also refrained from disclosing whether the man was handcuffed.
Texas DPS investigators are assisting the investigation. "We are looking at all the electronic evidence, and all of the physical evidence that was presented to us last night, and once that's complete, we'll be able to provide you more clarity of what happened," says DPS Sgt. Stephen Woodard.
At the crash site, Laquisha Fontenot left a memorial of flowers and balloons. She never met or knew 53 year-old Angela Stewart, or her 16 year-old son Mason, but news of their death left her desperate to offer a condolence, "I felt like I had to come show remembrance, to know they won't be forgotten."
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The officer, who has not been publicly identified, has been with Missouri City Police for just under a year and has two years of law-enforcement experience before that. He has been treated and released. Investigators, meantime, will focus on whether he'd been dispatched to the robbery call, why he did so with someone in his patrol vehicle, and whether he had lights and sirens on at the time of the crash.
Privately, the Stewart family says they are still processing what happened.
The Missouri City Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) are handling the investigation.