Family wants justice for 2-year-old Houston boy killed in crosswalk
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A memorial set up for 2-year-old Emmanuel Molina on Friday. Photo: Jay R. Jordan/Axios
The family of a 2-year-old Houston boy killed while he and his grandmother used a crosswalk is seeking justice.
Context: Lucila Molina, 65, was pushing her grandson, Emmanuel Molina, in a stroller near La Michoacana on West Fuqua Street at Bathurst Drive around 10:30am Thursday, police said.
- The family said they were on their way to pick up supplies for Emmanuel's brother's birthday party.
- As they made their way across West Fuqua Street in the crosswalk, a 25-year-old driver in a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 pickup collided with them as he made a turn, police said.
- Emmanuel was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead. Lucila Molina remains in the hospital.
Houston police briefly detained the driver after the collision but released him after deciding he wasn't intoxicated, police said.
- Police say the investigation is ongoing.
The intrigue: Advocates of a 2021 Texas law that created a felony charge for drivers who seriously injure or kill someone lawfully using a crosswalk say there was enough evidence for the driver to have been arrested and charged immediately.
- "The driver in this case should have been arrested on the spot," Gina Torry, an advocate whose sister's death led to the new law, said. "There's no reason under the law why this driver was allowed to go free."
Go deeper: Houston police routinely release drivers in deadly crashes and spend weeks or months completing an investigation.
- Some exceptions include drivers accused of racing or being intoxicated.
- Investigations in those cases are then turned over to the Harris County district attorney's office, which decides whether to pursue charges — another time-consuming process.
Yes, but: How justice plays out looks different in Houston and Harris County than in other communities across Texas.
- In neighboring Fort Bend County, prosecutors and law enforcement use the law to arrest drivers in deadly crosswalk collisions at the scene of the crash, similar to how an intoxicated driver would be charged.
- Prosecutors there have indicted at least two drivers who fatally struck pedestrians in crosswalks since the law went into effect in 2021, according to KXAN.
For Houston police, the decision to arrest drivers at the scene or pursue charges at a later date is up to the Harris County district attorney's office, according to Houston police chief Noe Diaz.
- "A fatality accident is an absolute tragedy," Diaz said at a Friday news conference on an unrelated street safety initiative. "It's a heartbreaking thing for the community, but understand that we have to follow procedures."
The office of outgoing District Attorney Kim Ogg hasn't filed charges under the law since its inception, although prosecutors have said they are determining whether they are necessary in a handful of ongoing cases.
- District Attorney-elect Sean Teare's transition team did not respond to requests for comment.
The bottom line: "We want justice," Emmanuel's uncle Jose Molina said at a vigil Friday. "We want the police department to do something about it. Not just ask questions and, 'OK, you're free to go. You just killed someone, you're free to go.'"