Chandler, TX - Robber With Handgun Crashes His
Car - Steals Tyler Patrol Car - High Speed Chase - Pit Maneuver - Crash
May 12,
2011
cbs19.com
A Tyler police car ends up smashed into a fence in Chandler, and you'll never believe how it happened. 24-year-old Isaac Garcia of Tyler is in jail, accused of stealing that car and a whole lot more.
It all started on Tyler's Frankston highway near Walton road.
Police say Garcia was under the influence of narcotics during this bizarre incident. Around 6:30 Wednesday morning, Garcia jumped a curb in his personal vehicle on Frankston Highway and plowed through a chain-link fence.
Witnesses say he was driving erratically before that.
Tyler police say Garcia got out of his truck after taking out the fence and grabbed his gun before walking up to two women.
"He presented a gun to them and was actually robbing them," Officer Don Martin with the Tyler Police Department said. "Another witness pulls up at that time in his vehicle, thinking 'hey, what's going on here,' and he tells him 'hey, get out of your car,' like he was going to carjack him. Well that guy speeds away, calling 911."
At the same, time the two women were calling 911 from a nearby bus stop, and the officer who was dispatched saw Garcia running into some trees. Police say that officer tried to take him into custody in the woods off Old Noonday Road.
Somehow, even laying on the ground with one hand behind his back and handcuffed, he got up, stole the officer's patrol car and sped off down Old Noonday.
"The suspect turned right on Loop 323 and was headed toward spur 364," Martin said. "We had 2 officers directly behind him at that time. He turned left on the spur and headed out toward Lindsey Park."
Eventually the chase ended up in downtown Chandler. That's where an officer finally clipped Garcia's bumper, and he spun out of control through the front yard of a church and into a wooden fence at the house next door.
A sheriff's deputy T-boned the stolen patrol car to keep it still. Garcia escaped out the passenger side before being tackled and arrested.
"This never happens here in Chandler," Latara Starling said after witnessing the whole thing. "We saw all these cop cars coming across the street, actually coming down the street."
As for the home Garcia nearly demolished before coming to a stop, it belongs Bobbie Padgett.
"I just a loud bump," she said. "I jumped up and looked out the window. Some guy jumping out of the door and running in my yard. I'm glad he didn't knock on the door and want in."
We've learned Garcia has a criminal history in Smith County, mostly related to driving without a license and carrying guns when he wasn't supposed to.
He's being held at the Smith County jail, charged with evading arrest and aggravated robbery. Combined bond for those charges is $350,000.
Even though the chase went all the way into Henderson County, it was still within Tyler PD's jurisdiction because they began the chase, which makes it their case regardless of where it ends.
A Tyler police car ends up smashed into a fence in Chandler, and you'll never believe how it happened. 24-year-old Isaac Garcia of Tyler is in jail, accused of stealing that car and a whole lot more.
It all started on Tyler's Frankston highway near Walton road.
Police say Garcia was under the influence of narcotics during this bizarre incident. Around 6:30 Wednesday morning, Garcia jumped a curb in his personal vehicle on Frankston Highway and plowed through a chain-link fence.
Witnesses say he was driving erratically before that.
Tyler police say Garcia got out of his truck after taking out the fence and grabbed his gun before walking up to two women.
"He presented a gun to them and was actually robbing them," Officer Don Martin with the Tyler Police Department said. "Another witness pulls up at that time in his vehicle, thinking 'hey, what's going on here,' and he tells him 'hey, get out of your car,' like he was going to carjack him. Well that guy speeds away, calling 911."
At the same, time the two women were calling 911 from a nearby bus stop, and the officer who was dispatched saw Garcia running into some trees. Police say that officer tried to take him into custody in the woods off Old Noonday Road.
Somehow, even laying on the ground with one hand behind his back and handcuffed, he got up, stole the officer's patrol car and sped off down Old Noonday.
"The suspect turned right on Loop 323 and was headed toward spur 364," Martin said. "We had 2 officers directly behind him at that time. He turned left on the spur and headed out toward Lindsey Park."
Eventually the chase ended up in downtown Chandler. That's where an officer finally clipped Garcia's bumper, and he spun out of control through the front yard of a church and into a wooden fence at the house next door.
A sheriff's deputy T-boned the stolen patrol car to keep it still. Garcia escaped out the passenger side before being tackled and arrested.
"This never happens here in Chandler," Latara Starling said after witnessing the whole thing. "We saw all these cop cars coming across the street, actually coming down the street."
As for the home Garcia nearly demolished before coming to a stop, it belongs Bobbie Padgett.
"I just a loud bump," she said. "I jumped up and looked out the window. Some guy jumping out of the door and running in my yard. I'm glad he didn't knock on the door and want in."
We've learned Garcia has a criminal history in Smith County, mostly related to driving without a license and carrying guns when he wasn't supposed to.
He's being held at the Smith County jail, charged with evading arrest and aggravated robbery. Combined bond for those charges is $350,000.
Even though the chase went all the way into Henderson County, it was still within Tyler PD's jurisdiction because they began the chase, which makes it their case regardless of where it ends.
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