A 2-year-old boy remains hospitalized with brain injuries after being ejected from a vehicle in a crash over a week ago, his family revealed.
Juan Suarez was traveling home with his great-grandmother along Hirsch Road in northeast Houston on the morning of Jan. 30.
Exclusive surveillance footage obtained by Eyewitness News shows that as they approached the intersection with Laura Koppe Road, a white pickup truck ran a red light and collided with the family’s car.
Although difficult to discern in the video, the family reported that the boy was thrown into a ditch.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my God. Please. Just let him, let him be able to make it. Let him be able to make it,'” expressed Michelle Hernandez, Juan’s mother.
Hernandez detailed her son’s treatment for brain injuries and a broken arm. While he exited the intensive care unit this week, he is expected to undergo extensive therapy before regaining his ability to walk.
His great-grandmother, meanwhile, is recovering at home with multiple rib and spine fractures.
In the surveillance footage, the truck can be seen pushing the family’s car into a school bus before spinning out of control. The occupants of the truck hastily exited from the driver’s side and fled the scene without rendering aid.
“Our perpetrators who caused this major car accident were being pursued by law enforcement officers at a very high rate of speed … There needs to be a thorough review of the policies and procedures with respect to the viability of pursuing criminals in a high-speed police chase,” stated the family’s attorney, Richard Nguyen.
The Houston Police Department clarified that they were not in pursuit of the truck but acknowledged that an officer observed it running a red light before the collision and may have attempted to pull it over.
HPD affirmed their active efforts to identify the driver and passenger involved.
“I want them to pay for what they did,” voiced the boy’s grandmother, Ana Torres. “My baby may not be the same anymore, but we’re trusting in God that God’s gonna heal him completely.”
To cover medical expenses, the family initiated a GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-suarez-family-medical-expenses-more.
