Pasadena police chase leads to death of unborn baby

A 52-year-old man is expected to be charged after a pregnant woman lost her unborn child when she was injured in a crash while the man was leading police on a short chase through Pasadena and southeast Houston Thursday night.

The chase started about 11 p.m. after a clerk at a Valero gas station on Texas 225 and Pasadena Blvd. called 911 to report one of the man's two companions appeared suspicious, said Vance Mitchell, a spokesman for the Pasadena Police Department.

When officers arrived at the station the man and two women, one of whom was between about six and eight months, sped away in a Ford Escape. Police followed them.

Mitchell said the man was driving the sports utility vehicle and he failed to control his speed, crashing the SUV in the 9200 block of Lawndale near Central.

The SUV rolled over. The man and the pregnant woman, 34, were thrown from the vehicle. The other woman, 30, was pinned beneath the overturned SUV.

The women were rushed to Ben Taub General Hospital. They both had non life-threatening injuries. However, the pregnant woman lost her unborn child, Mitchell said.

The other woman is expected to be charged with possession of a controlled substance.

The man was flown by LifeFlight medical helicopter to Memorial Hermann-The Texas Medical Center. Details of his injuries were not released, but police said he was in critical condition.

Police said he is expected to be charged with felony evading causing death.

The Chronicle has not named the man or the woman who are expected to be charged because charges have not been formally filed against them.