Man accused of killing 2 people while street racing on Christmas is now arrested

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - A man now charged with killing two people made his first court appearance after a deadly Christmas Day incident.

In his probable cause hearing, Devante Franklin stood silent listening to the charges against him.

It was on Christmas when investigators say Franklin was street racing on Highway 249.

They say he crashed leaving a grandfather and one other man dead.

It ended in a mangled destructive mess and is said to have started as a street race.

One where there are no winners.

In fact, one driver is dead. The other is arrested, charged with the deaths of two people.

"There is probable cause for your arrest,” the judge told Franklin as he stood before her.

The Christmas Day crash left many lives changed forever after detectives say Kevin Strong, 48, and Devante Franklin.25, were street racing their Ford Mustangs on Highway 249.

"The surveillance footage makes it very clear how busy [Highway 249] was. People had finished opening gifts and they were getting out and getting last-minute things to go back home and spend with their families,” explains Sean Teare with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

Johnny Patterson, 62, never made it back home to his family.

The grandfather turned his Explorer out of a gas station, when both Mustangs slammed into him, killing him.

Strong's Ford then swerved into oncoming traffic, was hit by yet another driver, injuring the two people in that car and Strong, one of the men supposedly street racing was killed.

Now Franklin is charged with two counts of Racing Resulting in Death and Racing Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury.

"I wasn’t sure what was going to happen or if he was going to be charged at all.  So just knowing there’s going to be some type of justice for my grandfather is good,” says Patterson’s Grandson Malik Brumley.   

"The speed (data) that we have is from the Mustang that actually resulted in the death of that driver and less than two seconds before the crash he was doing 114 miles per hour and his throttle was at 100%, meaning he had his pedal all the way to the floor,” Teare says. 

"You never really know how much you’re going to miss somebody until they’re gone.  A lot of stuff we didn’t get to do together and we’ll never have a chance to get to do,” adds the grieving grandson.

Franklin does not have a criminal record but according to his Twitter page he is no stranger to racing.

His page features a picture of the white Ford Mustang investigators say he was driving Christmas Day. 

Franklin's profile description reads “I live life by the quarter mile. Street racing is what I do”.

He now faces 20 years in prison if convicted. His bond is set at $60,000.