Three valets fatally struck by vehicle fleeing police in Texas

Three valets were struck by a vehicle fleeing the police in Houston, Texas, according to local law enforcement.  

Houston Police Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir said in a press conference Friday the three valets were pronounced dead at the scene after a car attempting to get away from the police allegedly hit them. 

A night shift police sergeant turned on his lights Friday night to pull over a vehicle after he saw the driver doing donuts in a private parking lot. 

Bashir said the car sped up after the officer turned on his lights in an attempt to get away.

The car hit the three valets before ending up in a ditch.

The police say the car looked like it was going around 60 miles per hour when it crashed, but the impact for driver and passenger appeared to be non-life threatening — they were taken to the hospital for minor injuries. 

“We’re out here because one person decided they didn’t want to get a ticket or potentially go to jail for a misdemeanor,” the chief of the Harris County District Attorney’s vehicular crimes division, Sean Teare, said.

The driver could be charged with three counts of felony murder, and investigators are determining if he was impaired at the time of the incident.