Officers Stop Chase Suspect On EB I-30 In Arlington
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A driver, now identified as Joe Gonzales, led Fort Worth police on a slow-speed chase for more than two hours.
The chase, which apparently began with a drug bust that went bad, weaved in and around Fort Worth and Arlington, along east and westbound Interstate-30, onto side streets, through Lincoln Square, medians and parking lots.
When the pursuit started early Wednesday afternoon there was an unidentified woman in the car with Gonzales. At some point during the chase she was either pushed or jumped out of the vehicle. The woman's condition isn't known.
Police chased Gonzales, who was driving white, Nissan 4-door sedan with dark, tinted windows. From Chopper 11 the driver could been seen talking on the phone -- reportedly with police. Starting just after 2 p.m. negotiators tried to talk Gonzales into pulling over, to no avail.
"You don't need to just run up there and put yourself in danger," retired Carrollton police officer said.
The chase caused a lot of onlooker traffic. Police had to block off several exits onto I-30 to keep vehicles from entering the interstate.
The end of the chase was near after Gonzales started driving the wrong way down an interstate access road and again got back onto I-30.
The chase finally came to an end when a Fort Worth police SWAT armored vehicle performed a PIT Maneuver and rammed the back of Gonzales' car, causing it to crash into a concrete barrier. When the suspect attempted the climb out of the driver's side window the SWAT Team swarmed around and quickly took him to the ground. Gonzales appeared to be injured and was treated by paramedics as he sat on the interstate shoulder.
Officers have not commented on the reason behind the chase.
Gonzales, 42, has a lengthy criminal record. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records confirm that after being convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon he spent five years behind bars. Gonzales was released from prison in February of 2013.
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