14 year old Conroe teen dies after leading cops on high speed chase ...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas—A 14-year-old driver was killed and his 13-year-old passenger injured after their joyride led to a high-speed chase, then a horrific crash near Huntsville early Tuesday, according to authorities.

Authorities said a State Trooper attempted to pull over the two Conroe teens after spotting them joyriding in downtown Willis around 1 a.m., but the driver refused to stop.

Instead, he floored it and led authorities on a high-speed chase up Highway 75.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies joined in the chase, which ended after the teen failed to negotiate a sharp curve on Highway 1374.

"The suspect was traveling over a 100 miles an hour," said Sgt. Terry Barnhill. "He came through about a 45 degree turn, lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a telephone pole."

The impact of the crash nearly split the vehicle in two.

The passenger, Gustavo Roberto Casillas, was ejected from the vehicle and broke his leg. He was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in stable condition.
The driver, Collin Johnson, had to be cut from the floor panel. He died at the scene.
The family Johnson lived with said they took the teen in when he had nowhere else to go. They confirmed the vehicle was taken from their property.

Conroe ISD confirmed the teens were junior high students, but would not reveal which school they attended. They will, however, provide grief counselors to students in need.

Plane crash in Conroe claims two

Sun May 8, 2011.
By Matt Stephens |
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Flight Standards District Office are investigating a fiery plane crash that killed a Conroe man and his daughter Saturday morning near Lone Star Executive Airport.

The aircraft’s pilot, Elzie Jessie Warren, 70, and his daughter, passenger Phyllis Jean Ridings, 52, died when his airplane crashed in the woods north the airport in Conroe.
Conroe Fire Chief Ken Kreger said the plane, an experimental Ravin aircraft, took off from runway No. 14 at 8:52 a.m. Warren called the air traffic controller complaining of smoke in the cockpit less than three minutes later.

The plane crashed in the woods at 8:55 a.m. about half a mile north of the airport, missing runway No. 19, which appears to be where Warren had planned to land, Kreger said. MCHD and Conroe Fire Dispatch received a 9-1-1 call from the control tower shortly before the crash at 8:54 a.m.
While firefighters and police arrived on scene at 9:03 a.m., the distance from the edge of the woods to the crash made it difficult to reach the scene, Kreger said.

About an acre of land was bulldozed around the fire by the Texas Forest Service, and Kreger said the blaze was “contained and under control” Saturday afternoon.

Dennis McCright, a pilot, said he has known “Bud” Warren for 10 years and called him “a good guy and a family man,” while praising Warren for his “genius” skills as an engineer and mechanic.
“He’ll be missed, not only him personally, but his expertise because he helped a lot around the airport,” McCright said.

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Texan heads Bin Laden raiders

The commander of the U.S. military unit responsible for killing elusive al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden — Vice Adm. William H. McRaven — is a San Antonio native and graduate of the University of Texas in Austin.

McRaven, 55, earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1977, although a campus dean said a computer listing didn't indicate whether the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps member had an interest in the print side of news coverage, broadcast or public relations.
A fellow ROTC member recalled McRaven as eager for military service.

"He was extremely focused on preparing for special forces details," said Curtis Raetz, of McKinney, who majored in engineering at UT, served in the Marine Corps and now works in private business.
'He had drive.'

Raetz, who graduated a year before McRaven, said the ROTC program included required courses such as naval science.

James Gruetzner, who served in the same Navy ROTC batallion as McRaven, told Cox Newspapers, "He had drive. He went on extraordinarily long runs to stay in shape. He was very dedicated."
McRaven's Navy biography states he attended the Naval Postgraduate School and was its first graduate in Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict. In 1995, he wrote a book called Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare Theory and Practice.

McRaven became commander of the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command in 2008.
In that role, he reportedly led the planning and execution of bin Laden's death Sunday at the hand of Navy SEALs, an acronym that stands for Sea, Air and Land.