High-speed car chase ends in explosion on resident’s property

by Loyd Brumfield of of Cedar Hill TODAY

Connie Suttice was in St. Louis visiting some of her children when disaster struck at her Cedar Hill home at 2:30 a.m. Aug. 18.

That was when a high-speed car chase came to an abrupt end at her home at the corner of Middleton and Trees Drive in High Pointe.

A Chevy Avalanche (involved in a shooting with another car) crashed through a fence on Suttice's property and came to rest between another car in the driveway and a storage shed in the backyard.

That led to an explosion that destroyed the shed, the Avalanche and the Ford Escalade owned by a friend of Suttice's daughter.

“Initially, there wasn't much damage to the Escalade, but police told us not to move it,” said Suttice, who was back home Aug. 21 and getting damage estimates from contractors.

Charred pieces littered her backyard, and a large part of her garage door was singed a purplish-gray color.

Another car inside the garage wasn't damaged by the fire but received some smoke damage, Suttice said.

Suttice's husband, Marvin, and her daughter, Kimberly Mowery, were at home asleep at the time of the crash.

Marvin was closer to the blast and said it sounded like a loud thump, or thunder.

A neighbor, Regina Parker, heard it, too, and ran down to the house and woke the sleeping family. She also took pictures of the scene and caught the explosion when it happened.

Police from Cedar Hill, Dallas and Duncanville responded, along with firefighters and EMS personnel from several jurisdictions.

The chase began around 2:20 a.m. when Chris Wilks of Cedar Hill was driving a black 1999 Saleen Mustang and the Avalanche pulled up next to him at Clark and Wheatland roads in Duncanville.

A gun was produced out of the Avalanche, Wilks told police, and shot at his car as the light turned green.

The shots missed, but the chase continued into Cedar Hill. During it, Wilks called 911 and tried to get a license plate number from his pursuers.

According to Suttice, the Avalanche was trying to turn off New Clark onto Middleton (heading toward FM 1382) and was going too fast to make the turn.

Her home was in the way.

She got a call from her husband as soon as he knew what happened.

“My daughter was hysterical,” she said. “She said it was like seeing an action movie come to life. The car exploded, and flames were leaping high over the roof.”

No one was injured in the chase or the explosion. Two of the people in the Avalanche, 18-year-old Arturo Avila of Grand Prairie and 19-year-old Christopher Nevarez of Arlington were arrested and charged with aggravated assault and were being held at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas.

Police and Cedar Hill firefighters were at the home securing the scene until about 6 a.m., Suttice said.

“Several neighbors showed up and pitched in,” Suttice said. “There was a lot of people standing around, just amazed.”

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