A Houston man rescued a deputy from a burning vehicle Wednesday after the officer struck a car, killing a woman and injuring two children, while in pursuit of a robbery suspect.
“I’m homeless,” Johnny Walker told ABC13 reporter Courtney Fischer. “I was doing some work for someone. I was taking some tools back when I heard ‘boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.’ I ran out here to see what it is, and I saw a lot of cars, but I paid attention to the fire.”
“My instincts were to go to that car and help him out,” Walker recalled, “because he was crushed in on both sides.”
He added that he tried to help the woman who was hit, Autrey Faith Simone Davis. She died in the crash, and two children — a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old — were injured. The older child is in critical condition; the younger one is stable.
According to Click2Houston, the unidentified Houston deputy spotted a vehicle matching the description of one used in a robbery, and he tried to pull the car over, but the driver took off. Investigators have said the chase reached speeds in excess of 80-90 mph before the collision, which occurred as the deputy sped through an intersection. The car it hit contained Davis and the youngsters. Five other vehicles were also struck.
Walker said through tears he “tried to help that lady. She passed, though.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Walker find counseling resources and to start a journey to becoming housed again.
“I just wish I could have done a little more,” he declared. “When you have kids and family, even if you don’t, it’s just a critical point in time. It’s not about color; it’s about helping one another.”
“Sometimes you have to make a choice,” Walker added. “That car was on fire. I could lose my life. I didn’t know who was in the other car. My heart just goes out to them and their family.”
Just last month, another Houston officer struck and killed an innocent bystander while speeding to apprehend a suspect. As previously reported, Michael Wayne Jackson was headed to his barber when Officer Orlando Hernandez lost control of the cruiser at a high rate of speed and jumped the curb, killing the 62-year-old mechanic.
Jackson’s brother, Timothy Jackson, has criticized the HPD and the training of the young officers. “It looks like to me,” he said, “maybe the guys couldn’t drive that well.”
“They just weren’t ready,” he opined. “Their skill level in pursuits maybe wasn’t that good because they came out of the street onto the sidewalk. They put anybody that’s on the sidewalk in danger.”
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