By Jim Towers, M.J.A., J.D.
HOUSTON HEIGHTS INDEPENDENT
Riding through the Heights this weekend, we saw plywood over the front window at Torchy’s Tacos at 19th and Ashland and figured we knew what had happened.
It wasn’t a burglary.
According to a restaurant employee, an SUV being chased by Houston Police lost control in the 300 block of West 19th Street around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. It jumped the curb at the corner of Ashland and crashed into the building, shattering the large two-sided bay window at the entrance and knocking loose the brick base beneath it.
The driver got out and ran. Officers chased him on foot, tackled him and took him into custody, the employee said.
The Suspect was booked into the Harris County Jail on charges of evading arrest with a motor vehicle, resisting arrest and felony criminal mischief, according to county.
The building’s alarms went off during the crash. Restaurant management was notified at about 2:15 a.m., and a security guard was posted overnight.
By Sunday morning, plywood covered the street-facing pane. The pane on the entrance side was still glass, with plastic sheeting taped over its cracked upper corner. The bulbs had been pulled from the display floor and their sockets taped off, while the lights overhead still burned. Bricks from the base were still sitting in the planter bed below.
Torchy’s was open the next day for business.
HPD said its incident report would not be available for seven to 10 business days. HHI will update this story when it is released.
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