A 17-year-old boy and 19-year-old girl died in a crash while fleeing police in a stolen vehicle. A third person suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
KENNEDALE, Texas — After witnessing an exchange of gunfire between people in two vehicles traveling eastbound on Interstate 20, an off-duty officer called for backup.
Eventually, a Fort Worth PD Patrol Officer located and followed one of the cars to West Kennedale Parkway where the driver crashed trying to get away. There are still remnants of the crash on the sidewalk after a violent impact, heard by people working nearby.
One of the business owners on Kennedale Parkway shared video from his security cameras with WFAA. That video shows the violent impact between a work truck and what turned out to be a stolen car. The crash happened Monday afterno on just after 2:30 pm at West Kennedale Parkway and North Dick Price Road.
A second business owner nearby also heard the crash. Alina Jackson owns Pretti-Gurl Tees Vinyl Shop on West Kennedale Parkway. She’s fairly new to the area but knew right away the sound she heard had to be something serious because in her years near that intersection, nothing sounded like that.
“I’ve been here three years,” said Jackson. “I just kind of stepped out. It was kind of smoky, like the car was about to catch on fire. So, I just kind of got my phone because I was about to run over there. And then about time I got just like right there, I seen a police officer.”
That officer had already initiated a traffic stop but the driver fled. Police eventually used real-time cameras to locate the vehicle. The driver fled at high speed on Kennedale Parkway trying to get away from Fort Worth Police.
A driver in a work truck on North Dick Price Road entered the intersection after the light turned green. The video shows not only the impact but also the vehicle rollover after colliding with the work truck.
Within seconds, you can see the police pursuit vehicle arrive at the intersection.
Emergency responders pronounced 19-year-old Gabrielle Ramirez and 17-year-old Jaquan Cason dead at the scene. Paramedics took a third person to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Officers found two guns outside their vehicle, that same vehicle had been reported stolen from Grand Prairie.
During the accident, investigation police blocked off all traffic. That left Jackson without any customers for the day. She had already contemplated going home for the day after learning about the two young people who died in the crash. She opened back up the next day knowing that their families would be in much pain. She chose the location because of the traffic and figured it would be good for business.
“I was at a business for 17 years for a company. And so, I just wanted to own my own business. And one day, I was going up the street to visit my mom in a cemetery. And when I came down, the lady was putting the sign for lease,” said Jackson, “So, I just pulled over and stopped in. When she figured out what I wanted to do, she just kind of like, That’s what we want right here.”
West Kennedale Parkway is a busy street and traffic gets heavy at times according to Jackson. She’s convinced Monday’s crash was the worst.
“It has been some accidents here before, but no, not to that extent,” said Jackson.
Fort Worth PD has not released the name of the third person in the stolen vehicle at the time of the crash.
Online records show a person transported from the same location to the hospital and later booked on charges at the Tarrant County jail.