Teen in a coma after crash involving HPD cruiser while riding scooter in downtown, family says

A 16-year-old high school student is fighting for his life after colliding with a Houston Police Department cruiser while riding on a rented scooter in downtown Houston on Saturday.

According to Jose Sixtos' family, he is at Ben Taub Hospital.

That afternoon, Sixtos and his friend, Santos Deondrey, wanted to go downtown.

His older brother, Sergio Sixtos, said the teens wanted to have fun.

"I had dropped him off at a friend's house because he wanted to go downtown and have fun," he said. "He was just going to ride scooters."

Around 9:30 on Saturday, Jose collided with the HPD vehicle while trying to get to Discovery Green to meet some friends. The accident happened at Crawford and Rusk Street, the same street corner where the teens had rented the scooters.

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"I'm not sure if the cop's light was green or not; he's not stopping, he's just going," Deondrey said, who was not hurt but saw the accident. "I just see my homeboy; he tried to take the turn, to go around, not to get hit."

"When I was about to pick him up, his friend called and said, 'Your brother got hit,'" Sergio said. "I was like, 'What do you mean he got hit?' and he Facetimes me and said, 'Yeah, a cop car ran him over.'"

Houston police say the investigation is in its beginning stages.

The initial HPD accident report says the police car had a green light on Rusk, and the teenager was turning on Crawford. However, the friend says the police car and the scooter were on the same street.

HPD says a Vehicular Crimes investigator will have to piece together exactly what happened and determine the cause of the crash. The intersection where the accident occurred is bounded by the backside of the Marriott Marquis Hotel and Hampton Inn, so some surveillance video will likely be available.

"I just want to see the dash cam on the cop car," Sergio said.

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The prognosis for the injured teen is uncertain. "I don't know what's going to happen," Patricia Rivera, Jose's mother, said. "The doctor gave a prognosis, and it's going to take about a year if he recovers."

As of Monday, the teen is still in a coma.

ABC13 tried to contact the company in charge of the rented scooters, but our calls went unanswered.

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