West Harris County chase ends with teen killed on Highway 6

A 21-year-old driver accused of fleeing Houston police in a stolen Toyota Camry faces a murder charge after 19-year-old Abrihaim Abuswei was killed on southbound Highway 6 near the Westpark Tollway in west Houston. Court records and police accounts place the crash in west Harris County, where the chase ended after the car hit a curb, became disabled, and the people inside ran.

Stephanie Gutierrez said her son, known to the family as AB, was riding in the passenger seat when Houston police tried to stop the Camry. She said she does not believe he knew the car was stolen and wants accountability for his death. Abuswei was struck after stepping out of the vehicle, leaving his family with questions about how a stolen-car stop turned into a fatal collision.

Court records say the driver, Steven Andrew Molina, reached speeds of up to 120 mph before the chase ended. Those same records say Molina admitted he was running from officers and admitted to drinking and using cocaine before he got behind the wheel. An early account described the wreck as a chase of a reported stolen car that left one suspect dead and two others hospitalized.

The timeline has also been described differently in early reports, with one placing the end of the chase around 4 a.m. Wednesday, July 1, 2026, while later notes describe Abuswei’s death as late Wednesday morning, July 2, 2026. What is clear is that the pursuit moved from an attempted traffic stop to a high-speed flight on Highway 6, then to a disabled car, and then to the crash that killed Abuswei.

Houston police said the case remains under investigation. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is also reviewing the crash because it happened in its jurisdiction, and no charges have been filed against the officer involved. That leaves the central local question unresolved: when a pursuit involves a stolen car, a passenger who may not know the vehicle is stolen, and speeds that reached 120 mph, what point should end the chase before bystanders or passengers pay the price?

Harris County Sheriff’s Office policy defines a vehicle pursuit as an active attempt by an officer in an authorized emergency vehicle to stop a suspect who then flees after visual or audible signals, and its policy materials say the danger of the chase must be weighed against the need to make the arrest. Texas Department of Transportation rules require crash reports for injury or fatal wrecks to be submitted within 10 days, which should add another official layer to the record as investigators sort out the decisions that led to Abuswei’s death.