Police say two shoplifting suspects were running from them when they ran into a car that was carrying 17-year-old Shay Hollingshead and his friend, 16-year-old Shawn Williams. Williams died in the crash, and Hollingshead is still in critical condition.
Baytown police showed that video to victims' families during a private meeting early Monday. Police say they're hoping the video will answer questions about how the chase was handled.
"This truck here jumping a curb and going through a ditch, this is our suspect," Baytown Police Department Lt. Eric Freed said.
Baytown police dash cam video shows the officers following the suspects' pickup truck Friday night. Minutes earlier, authorities say Jennifer Jenkins, 35, and driver Shannon Chauncey, 43, were blocked in by Baytown police detectives at an Academy store parking lot. The suspects rammed a patrol car and sped out of the parking lot, sparking the chase down Garth Road.
Police say they couldn't confirm the suspects' speed but they say Chauncey was driving recklessly. Marked police cars backed off the chase a bit and even lost sight of the pickup truck at times.
"He is intentionally backing off because of the dangerous driving of the suspect," Lt. Freed said.
But minutes later, the dash cam video captured a fiery crash after police say Chauncey slammed into the back of the car carrying the innocent Sterling High School students.
Baytown police say officers followed procedures during this chase, citing the suspect rammed into a patrol car and almost hit an officer.
"The death of this young man is -- Shannon Chauncey's, it's on his hands," Freed said.
Williams' mother, Pleshette Williams, showed up to Monday's press conference with more questions for police. She was unable to speak on camera then but the day after she lost her son, she told Eyewitness News she is holding on to her faith to get her through this tragedy.
"If I had been given parts to build a child, I could not have made a more perfect child than Shawn," she told us Saturday.
At a vigil Monday night, Williams' friends and family lit candles and released balloons in his memory.
"I'm not angry at them because it was God's plan and it was God's design," Williams sister, Tyler Williams, said. "If God's plan was to have that happen the way that it did, then I can't be mad at it."
Meanwhile, Hollingshead's is still fighting for his life in the hospital. His father told police that his son is "critical, critical, critical" and is suffering from neck, spinal and neck injuries. He also might have a broken pelvis and lots of internal injuries.
Chauncey and Jenkins were both arrested after the crash. We've since learned Jenkins had to be subdued by a stun gun and that Chauncey was out on parole at the time of the chase. He made his first court appearance Monday.
