Wild chase comes to crash ending

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

(1/18/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A dangerous high speed police chase led officers in circles all over Houston before coming to a crashing halt in a wrong-way head-on collision with an innocent driver.

A driver in a BMW had been traveling at very high rates of speed as law enforcement agencies tailed him for over an hour. The chase apparently began as some type of disturbance call. The details are not clear at this time.

The chase finally ended with a wrong-way head-on collision on the northbound entrance ramp to the Southwest Freeway at Shepherd. The suspect crashed into another car, trapping the driver. A female passenger was apparently uninjured and immediately jumped from the vehicle to run to the backseat and check on an infant. The baby was secured in a car seat, and appeared to be unharmed. The driver of that car was taken to an area hospital. The extent of her injuries are not known.

The suspect climbed out the sun roof of his car with his hands up. He was taken into custody without further incident.

Authorities began chasing the man around 1:45pm Wednesday. At one point, no officers were even directly behind him. He managed to elude the Channel 13 helicopter, which can go 100 miles per hour.

Over the course of the chase, the man drove on nearly every freeway in Houston, including I-45, the Hardy Toll Road, Beltway 8, I-10, Highway 290 and Highway 59.

Officers attempted to use spikes to flatten his tires, but those were ineffectual. Multiple law enforcement agencies joined in the pursuit, occasionally sending word ahead to have more officers waiting.

There's no word yet what charges the suspect will face. Programming Note:
General Hospital will be shown at 1:40am Thursday. We apologize for the inconvenience.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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