Search fatalities

Michael Wayne Jackson

Age : 62

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 12/04/2021

Location : 4100 block of Reed Road near Scott Street

City : Houston

County : Harris

State : Texas

Agency : Houston Police Department

Officer(s) :Officer Orlando Hernández, Officer Anthony Aranda

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

.
REASON WHY PURSUIT WAS INITIATED:
Houston Police initiated a pursuit after five teenagers allegedly stole a woman’s pickup truck during an armed carjacking in a grocery-store parking lot. Police had access to the stolen vehicle’s internal GPS location data.
.
EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 12/04/2021, at approximately 5:40 p.m., Houston Police officers were pursuing the reported stolen pickup in the Sunnyside area after locating it through the vehicle’s GPS system. The initial pursuit ended at an apartment complex when the teenagers abandoned the pickup and ran. Officer Orlando Hernandez and his partner, Officer Anthony Aranda, were patrolling nearby and decided to respond to an officer-assistance call connected with the search. Later federal litigation alleged that Hernandez was neither assigned nor authorized to join the pursuit response and could not see the pursued vehicle when he began driving toward the scene.
.
Hernandez drove the marked Ford police SUV westbound on Reed Road at speeds between approximately 80 and 100 mph on a roadway with a 40-mph speed limit. The pavement was wet from recent rain. Body-camera footage showed Hernandez maneuvering through traffic at high speed, at times steering with one hand, and proceeding through a red traffic signal at Cullen Boulevard while driving toward Scott Street.
.
Approximately 34 seconds after Hernandez passed Cullen Boulevard, and after traveling roughly 3,755 feet, he approached stopped traffic at Reed Road and Scott Street. Hernandez made a sharp evasive steering maneuver, lost control of the police SUV, jumped the curb and drove onto the sidewalk. HPD’s own crash investigation concluded that Hernandez was traveling at an unsafe speed for roadway conditions and performed a faulty evasive maneuver.
.
Michael Wayne Jackson was walking west on the sidewalk toward his cousin’s barbershop when Hernandez’s police SUV struck him. The cruiser continued into a nearby parking area and crashed into a dumpster. Hernandez and Aranda exited and attempted aid, and other officers arrived seconds later. Jackson died at the scene.
.
Jackson worked nights in road construction and had planned to eat at Red Lobster with his family later that day after getting some rest. Instead, he decided to take the bus to get a haircut. He was a husband, father and primary provider and caregiver for his wife Janice and their adopted daughter Ky’lee; he also helped care for his disabled brother Timothy.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
1 Fatality. No injuries to Hernandez or Aranda were reported.
.
EYEWITNESS OR FAMILY STATEMENTS:
Jackson’s widow, Janice Jackson, said Hernandez should have been held accountable for killing her husband. Jackson’s brother Timothy questioned the officer’s training and said Michael had simply been walking to get a haircut when he was killed. The family later argued in federal court that HPD failed to adequately train officers in alternatives to dangerous high-speed pursuits and allowed pursuit practices that endangered uninvolved residents.
.
DISPOSITION:
HPD’s internal investigation found that Hernandez was traveling at an unsafe speed and performed a faulty evasive action. The department suspended Hernandez for 30 days and placed him on one year of probation for his role in the pursuit response that killed Jackson.
.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office presented Hernandez’s conduct to a grand jury for possible criminally negligent homicide. In 2022, the grand jury returned a no bill, and Hernandez was not criminally charged. Aranda, who was riding as Hernandez’s partner, was not presented to the grand jury and returned to duty.
.
LITIGATION:
Janice Jackson, individually and as representative of Michael Wayne Jackson’s estate, sued the City of Houston along with families from other fatal HPD pursuit cases. The federal case, Jackson v. City of Houston, Case No. 4:23-cv-00052, was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on 01/06/2023. The lawsuit alleged, among other claims, that HPD failed to train officers in alternatives to high-speed pursuits and that departmental policies contributed to fatal pursuits in predominantly Black neighborhoods.
.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt initially allowed Jackson’s state-law claims to proceed, finding unresolved factual questions concerning Hernandez’s conduct and noting HPD’s own determination that Hernandez was driving at an unsafe speed. On 07/15/2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the lower court on the governmental-immunity issue, substantially narrowing the family’s path to recovery against Houston. As of August 2025, Janice Jackson said she intended to continue pursuing accountability.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Officer Orlando Hernandez was 25 and had been with HPD for less than two years when he killed Jackson; Officer Anthony Aranda was also 25. Hernandez received a 30-day suspension and one year of probation after HPD found his speed unsafe and his evasive maneuver faulty. No earlier fatal pursuit or comparable disciplinary incident involving Hernandez or Aranda was located in the records reviewed.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/12/07/its-like-a-nightmare-family-mourns-death-innocent-man-hit-killed-by-hpd-officer-during-chase/
https://abc13.com/post/houston-police-crash-pedestrian-hit-and-killed-by-hpd-officer-michael-wayne-jackson-chase-death/11305613/
https://abc13.com/post/houston-police-crash-pedestrian-hit-and-killed-by-hpd-officer-no-charges-orlando-hernandez-not-charged-with-homicide/12048947/
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-police-hits-pedestrian-pursuit-16745763.php
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/houston-police-speeding-car-crash-death-18336526.php
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/houston-police-chase-deaths-18329110.php
https://www.keranews.org/criminal-justice/2025-08-12/qualified-immunity-police-chase-victims-lawsuits-houston-police-department-dallas-texas
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/texas/txsdce/4%3A2023cv00052/1901503/28/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/24-20047/24-20047-2025-07-15.html