Teen Fleeing Cops After Doing Donuts Kills Three Young Valet Workers, Police Say
“We’re out here because one person decided they didn’t want to get a ticket,” Sean Teare, chief of vehicular crimes at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
A Texas teen who was pursued by police for doing donuts in a Houston parking lot struck and killed three valet workers after speeding away from a patrol sergeant, authorities announced Monday.
Ahmedal Tayeb Elnouman Modawi, 17, has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury after he allegedly hit three young valet workers on Friday.
“We’re out here because one person decided they didn’t want to get a ticket or potentially go to jail for a misdemeanor,” Sean Teare, chief of vehicular crimes at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said during a media briefing on Saturday. He called the incident “as egregious as we’ve seen in a very long time.”
At roughly 10:30 p.m., authorities allege that Modawi was seen by a patrol sergeant doing donuts and engaging in “reckless driving,” in a local parking lot, and police tried to pull him over.
In a news release on Monday, the Houston Police Department alleged that during their pursuit Modawi “evaded” and “drove at a high rate of speed.” Driving a white Infiniti G237, Modawi then allegedly hit three valet workers who paramedics pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The car Modawi was driving then flipped and hit an object.
“We’re talking about three individuals who were just out here working, they were out here doing their jobs,” Teare said of the victims. Teare estimated that Modawi was driving “at least 60 miles an hour by the end of this crash,” and that he just “snatched three people’s lives for no reason.”
The victims have been identified as Fnan Measho, 18, Eric Orduna, 22, and Nick Rodriguez, 23, who worked at a nearby restaurant, KPRC reported. Measho had recently graduated high school and was enrolled at the University of Houston-Downtown, according to a GoFundMe page created to help pay for his funeral expenses.
Rose Orduna told KPRC that she is pained when she thinks of her son Eric’s final moments.
“What did he feel, did he feel that or just go. It hurts me so bad,” she said, describing her son as “a real good kid that just always thought of others.”
Modawi and another male passenger were hospitalized but in stable condition after the car crash, each suffering a broken leg, police said.
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