A 21-year-old man is facing charges in a violent carjacking that police say eventually led to a short pursuit and deadly crash last week.
According to the Houston Police Department, Kerrick Chancellor Bettie is charged with aggravated robbery for his role in the Sept. 6 carjacking. Police said the next day, on Sept. 7, he was the passenger of the stolen vehicle, driven by 18-year-old murder suspect Trenton Bevel, involved in a deadly crash.
2nd UPDATE: Booking photo of Kerrick Chancellor Bettie, 21, the passenger in the stolen vehicle driven by suspect Bevel in the Sept. 7th fatal crash at 7500 MLK Blvd.
Bettie is charged with aggravated robbery for his role in the initial carjacking incident.#HouNews https://t.co/eBRrNCuiAZ pic.twitter.com/l1jLFeOYEn
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) September 13, 2023
Bevel is accused of crashing and killing an innocent woman while fleeing from police that day. He has been charged with the murder of Gloria Collins, identified as the mother of an HPD sergeant.
Officials said the deadly incident stemmed from the initial carjacking, where a woman was robbed of her Dodge sport scar near Hobby Airport.
Court records show Bettie is accused of rear-ending the woman’s vehicle and pointing a gun at her when she got out to look at the damage, threatening to kill her before taking off with her car.
The woman alerted police about her stolen vehicle’s latest whereabouts the next day using a tracking system. Once police spotted her vehicle that morning, they initiated a pursuit but quickly lost sight of the suspects, ultimately deciding it was too dangerous and pulling back.
The suspects reportedly crashed into other vehicles stopped at the light at the Martin Luther King and Van Fleet intersection. Collins was in one of the stopped vehicles and was killed, and two others were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The two suspects were also transported to the hospital, with injuries said to be non-life threatening.
Bevel appears to be in custody but did not appear in court on Monday because he is still hospitalized.
Bettie, later identified as the second suspect inside that stolen vehicle, is also in custody. He is expected to appear in probable cause court on Wednesday, and Bevel’s next court date is this Friday.