Driver Charged After Chase, Fiery Crash On I-30 In Arlington
ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - A police chase that started in Fort Worth has ended with a fiery crash in Arlington leading to a two-hour standoff that ended peacefully.
Around 3:20 p.m. police pulled a man out of the cab of the truck.
The suspect, Jose Luis Cano Olivas, 35, of El Paso, was released from JPS hospital and is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest in a vehicle.
In an interview live on CBS 11 News, Fort Worth police Sgt. Marc Povero said a traffic officer had tried to stop the semi in Fort Worth on Interstate-30 at Beach Street. But Ovilas took off, going east on I-30 -- at times reaching speeds well over 100 mph.
SWAT has broken a window, begun forced entry into the truck. @CBSDFW
— Brooke Rogers (@TVNewsBrooke) June 9, 2017
The semi was driving recklessly from the beginning, crashing into vehicles and running cars off the highway.
There is no confirmation from police on whether or not the big rig was stolen.
The truck is owned by Pasado Transport out of El Paso.
There were approximately a dozen people injured, but non with life threatening injuries.
Arlington Police confirm the driver of the vehicle next to the 18-wheeler escaped and was taken to a hospital with non life threatening injures.
The chase came to an end in Arlington when the 18-wheeler crashed into a vehicle and a retaining wall near the Cooper Street exit. The car was basically demolished and burst into flames. Debris believed to have fallen off the semi also caught fire.
Sgt. Marc Povero said, "There is one female occupant of the truck that we've confirmed is still inside. We believe that she is the only occupant."
Both the east and westbound lanes of Interstate-30 in Arlington were shut down for more than two hours.
This was the scene shortly after the high speed chase ended in a crash pic.twitter.com/wPDtXfDlEF
— Geoff Allen Petrulis (@geoffap) June 9, 2017
Geoff Petrulis, who works at CBS11, was on I-30 as the man in the big rig sped past him.
"I noticed the truck in the rear view mirror. The truck passed me really close," said Petrulis. "As soon as the truck passed me, it ran another vehicle off the road .. maybe 100 to 200 feet in front of me. At the time it didn't look like the truck was trying to get out of the way of anything."
According to MedStar spokesperson Matt Zavadsky there were at least four crashes on Interstate-30 in Fort Worth -- at Beach, Oakland and Cooks -- before the semi crashed and burst into flames in Arlington.
When the fiery crash initially happened, dozens of drivers and passengers exited their vehicles and stood looking at the active police situation on the highway. Sgt. Povero says is ill advised. "When you see police officers ducking behind concrete barriers with their weapons drawn, that's an area you do not want to be at," he said.
Police eventually cleared those onlookers and advised people to avoid the area and those already nearby the leave.
The chase in Fort Worth began before 12:30 p.m. and the crash in Arlington happened at about 12:50 p.m.
A SWAT tactical unit arrived just after 1:30 p.m., but more than a dozen officers on the ground remained behind pillars and concrete barriers, with their weapons drawn.
At 1:45 p.m. the Arlington police armored truck made its way beside the cab of the semi blocking it against the wall. About 90 minutes later, the suspect inside came out without incident and police took him into custody.