LA MARQUE, TX : A Texas City grandfather was killed in a fiery crash on Sunday, June 4, 2017

A Texas City grandfather was killed Sunday night in a fiery crash caused by an alleged car thief.

Howard Lane, 57, was on his way to pick up his wife at work around 10 p.m. when his truck was struck from behind by a speeding car in the 200 block of Hwy. 3 near FM 1765 in La Marque.Both vehicles burst into flames.

Lane was trapped in the wreckage and pronounced dead at the scene.

He was the stepfather of nine children and the grandfather of 30. His large family gathered at his home Monday to console one another.

“I just think that it’s unfair,” his stepdaughter Mena Norman said, fighting back tears. “We just want justice because just for a stupid decision of stealing a car, he ended up taking a life and destroying a family.”

According to La Marque police, Valentina Demon Jones-Brown, 26, of Texas City, was behind the wheel of a stolen car when he slammed into Lane’s truck.

Jones-Brown had been taken to Mainland Center Hospital for a mental health evaluation earlier that evening. Police said Jones-Brown walked out of the hospital and forced two women out of their car in the parking lot.

According to police, he hit one of the women with the car as he drove away. Police describe her injuries as minor.

Brown sped south on Highway 3.

He hit Lane’s truck just south of the intersection of Hwy. 3 and FM Road 1765, police said.

Jones-Brown managed to crawl out of the wrecked car and was arrested at the scene by Texas City police.

He is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Source :
Driver charged after 1 killed, 1 injured in fiery crash in La Marque