Stolen car chase in McKinney ends in fiery crash, juvenile dies

A stolen vehicle sped the wrong way near Virginia and Independence Parkway in McKinney before crashing and catching fire, killing a juvenile passenger and sending the juvenile driver to the hospital.

Collin County Sheriff’s deputies tried to stop the vehicle after it nearly hit a patrol car and was suspected of DWI, officials said. When the driver fled, deputies initiated a chase that continued at high speed as the car traveled in the wrong direction on the roadway.

The pursuit ended around 4 a.m. Saturday, May 2, 2026, when the vehicle crashed in McKinney and caught fire. The driver managed to get out of the burning car and was taken to a hospital. The passenger, also a juvenile, died at the scene.

Authorities said the vehicle had been stolen from a business in McKinney. The McKinney Police Department and McKinney Fire Department responded to the crash scene, and McKinney police are investigating the incident.

The case leaves Collin County residents with urgent questions about what deputies knew when they moved from a traffic stop to a pursuit, how the suspected DWI report fit into that decision, and what circumstances led to a wrong-way chase on a city roadway. The result was devastating: one juvenile dead, another hospitalized, and a fiery wreck at one of McKinney’s major intersections.