2 men killed after car flipped and slammed into tree in violent Upper Kirby crash, HPD says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Two young men are dead after a car slammed into a curb and then hit a tree in the Upper Kirby neighborhood early Thursday morning, according to police.

The crash happened just after 3 a.m. in the 2100 block of Kirby Drive near San Felipe Street, right next to River Oaks Elementary School.

A Harris County Pct. 1 deputy who was patrolling the neighborhood witnessed the crash, according to Houston police.

The deputy reportedly saw a Lexus SUV speeding northbound on Kirby. The SUV lost control, hit a curb, flipped onto its roof, and hit a tree, HPD said.

Investigators said there were three men in their 20s inside the car. The driver and a back passenger were killed. Paramedics reportedly had to cut into the vehicle in order to get to the victims.

The front passenger who survived told investigators they were coming back from a party and the driver had been drinking. It's unclear what the driver's level of intoxication was or if he had anything else in his system or a medical condition that could have contributed to the crash.

The surviving passenger was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, HPD said.

"They were definitely speeding down the road. This type of SUV and the way that it was sort of launched from the curb couldn't have happened unless they were going significantly higher than the speed limit," Sgt. David Rose said.

Rose said there aren't a lot of crashes of this nature on that stretch of Kirby Drive.

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