Pickup Crashes Into Front Of Dallas Television Station Building
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A news event came to the doors of a North Texas television station early Wednesday morning… literally.
It was just after 6 a.m. when the driver of a pickup truck repeatedly smashed the vehicle into the Fox 4 News building in downtown Dallas, at the corner of Griffin Street and San Jacinto.
Senior Corporal Debra Webb, with Dallas Police Department media relations, said, "Shortly after it [call] came out as a crash it got upgraded to a major disturbance when it was determined that the vehicle involved with the crash was actually intentionally ramming the building."
Huge windows could be seen shattered and broken completely out as the truck sat against the glass, with the front end crumpled.
After the crash the driver jumped out of the truck and began yelling and throwing papers that he removed from a bag and several boxes. Boxes and papers from the bed of the truck were scattered along the front of the building.
The man, who never entered the building, was quickly handcuffed and taken into custody. Webb said, "When the officers arrived out here on the scene they came in contact with the suspect, he immediately laid down on the ground and surrendered to the officers. They got him into custody without any incident."
Police say the man was rambling and appeared to be in some sort of agitated mental state.
After a number of officers arrived at the scene, the Dallas police bomb squad was called in.
"When he [suspect] did come out of his vehicle, after ramming the building, he pulled a bag out of his vehicle so we had our EOD, our bomb unit, come out here just as a precaution to check that and make sure that it wasn't anything dangerous," Webb said. "The bag was cleared."
Police sent a bomb robot over to the truck to examine it before bomb squad members went to the vehicle and began searching it. K-9 officers were later brought to the scene to search vehicles parked nearby.
The suspect was taken to Parkland Hospital for medical evaluation. Police say once he is released he will be taken to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center where he is expected to booked in on a number of charges.
Most of the journalists and workers in the newsroom were evacuated from the building. News anchors, in the middle of a newscast, were in a studio on the opposite side of the building and said they heard nothing.
Several streets in the area have been closed as police investigate, affecting rush hour traffic and DART lines.
No injuries have been reported.
* This is a breaking news story that will be updated as more information becomes available. For the latest go to CBS DFW.