Pickup truck runs over 6 cyclists in Waller County, 4 people hospitalized

WALLER, Texas - A group of Houston area cyclists are hospitalized after getting hit by a pickup truck in Waller County Saturday morning.

According the Waller County Sheriff, 6 cyclists were hit by the vehicle along old 290, roughly 2 miles west of Waller.  In total, four of the cyclists had to be taken to area hospitals, including 2 by helicopter.

"I thought someone was dead," said Chase Ferrell.  "I heard a lot of crunching. I heard brakes. Tires screeching. People screaming."

Ferrell had been riding with the cyclists as part of a training ride for IRONMAN Texas. 

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Roughly 75 miles into their training ride, Ferrell says a black diesel pickup truck slowed down near him and accelerated to blow smoke in his lane.  Moments later, the pickup trick tried doing the same thing to other cyclists riding ahead of Ferrell.

"The reason he couldn’t stop is because he was accelerating to blow more diesel fuel on these cyclists," said Ferrell.  "He ended up hitting 3 people before his brakes even started."

The driver of the pickup truck has been identified as a 16-year-old boy. According to Ferrell, the teen stayed at the scene and met with police after hitting the cyclists.

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"There was no reason for this to happen," said Ferrell.  "It wasn’t like he was on his phone.  [He] definitely meant to try and scare these people [or] intimidate them in some way. [Maybe he then] made a mistake and ran them over."

As of Saturday evening, the driver of the pickup truck had not been arrested.

"Right now is prime time for cyclists and people for to be outside working out," said Ferrell.  "Please, be careful."