A man committed suicide after he caused a four-car wreck in Northwest Harris County on Sunday, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
The crash happened around 4:30 p.m. on Louetta Road at Water Oak Hill Drive. The area was shut down for more than two hours.
“Indications are now that he did turn directly into pathway of cars,” said Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. “It does seem deliberate.”
Sr. Deputy Gilliland says a witness reports a man was driving a green Chevy Cruze westbound on Louetta when he turned south into the path of cars going both eastbound and westbound, causing a four-vehicle crash.
“A witness said he got out, walked around the vehicle, looked at the damage to the vehicle, which was pretty heavy, then got back in the car and shot himself,” said Gilliland.
Gilliland said the man shot himself once with a pistol and was pronounced dead on the scene.
Ryaan Boyd says he was driving the BMW sedan involved in the crash.
“It was like it just flashed before my eyes,” said Boyd, who said he blacked out briefly from the trauma. “It was just amazing. I’m happy to be here, blessed to be here.”
Boyd says the driver of the Chevy Cruze driver was heading eastbound on Louetta, made a right turn onto Water Oak Hill Drive, and hit the car parked at the stop sign, causing a car trailing the Cruze to clip its bumper.
“She ends up coming all the way into my lane, and then we do a head-on collision,” said Boyd. “Instant airbags, everything.”
Boyd says he was later checked out at the hospital for minor bumps and bruises from the airbags.
“After (the crash) we just were all trying to figure it out because (the driver that hit him) said nothing happened to her, and the car (Chevy Cruze) nobody would come out,” said Boyd. “And then finally, a lady, a minivan over there, went up to the car and said, ‘I think the guy is dead’. And that’s when she came over here, running over here, while we’re trying to get each other’s insurance information. And from there the cops and the ambulance showed up and shut the scene down.”
Sr. Deputy Gilliland says authorities will be looking into the background of the deceased driver, whose name they have not publicly released.
“Find if he has any open investigations or if anything was on him, or if he has any open warrants,” he said. “Something evidently triggered him to do what he did other than a car accident.”
Sr. Deputy Gilliland says no one else was hurt in the incident