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High speed chase
November 21, 2011
Police: Driver leads police on chase after falling asleep in intersection
A man is in custody after police said he passed out in car his while stopped at an intersection, was woken up by an officer and led them on a brief chase, according to an arrest affidavit.
About 3:30 a.m. Thursday, an officer saw a car stopped in the left turn lane on the southbound Interstate 35 frontage road and Airport Boulevard through two green light cycles, the affidavit said. An officer approached the vehicle and saw a man, later identified as Paul Vallejo, passed out with his foot on the brake and the car in drive, the affidavit said.
Another officer arrived and parked his car in front of Vallejo’s with his emergency lights on when the first officer knocked on Vallejo’s window to wake him up, the document said. Vallejo reversed, hit a police car and nearly struck an officer, then turned left, away from the police car in front of him, and drove down the southbound frontage road, the affidavit said.
Vallejo drove about a mile south to East 38½ street where he turned left and crashed into a concrete barrier, the affidavit said. Officers followed Vallejo on foot and arrested him with their Tasers pointed at him, the affidavit said.
Vallejo, 32, is in Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle on three felony charges with bail set at $120,000, according to jail records.
Vallejo was charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer, a first-degree felony, evading arrest, a state jail felony, and possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony, for some crack cocaine found in his car, the affidavit said.
Permalink | Categories: Assault, High speed chase, drugs
April 27, 2010
Man charged in chase that ended in fatal wreck
Eliot Alfred Carvajal, 37, is facing intoxication manslaughter charges, a second-degree felony, following a high-speed pursuit across Austin early Monday that left one person dead and three injured, according to an arrest affidavit.
Carvajal, who officials said was the driver of the vehicle being pursued, was magistrated at the hospital, said Travis County sheriff’s office spokesman Roger Wade.
The investigation into criminal charges is ongoing, Wade said. “There are other charges pending,” Wade added.
Carvajal told police he had “two beers,” and later stated he had two 24-ounce “Four Loco” alcoholic drinks, the affidavit said. Carvajal also smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot and watery eyes, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said a sheriff’s office deputy was informed of a theft in progress at 12900 North Interstate 35 at 1:01 a.m., the affidavit said.
Carvajal was driving south in a blue 2001 Honda Accord carrying three other passengers along the service road of Interstate 35 and a pursuit was initiated at 1:02 a.m., the affidavit said.
The pursuit continued onto Interstate 35, and accelerated to 100 mph in the 65 mph speed zone, the affidavit said.
Carvajal exited about five miles later at Powell Lane, and drove southbound along other streets, including Airport and Lamar boulevards in Central Austin, at speeds of up to 70 mph, before going west on Ben White Boulevard, the affidavit said.
As Carvajal neared Brodie Lane in South Austin at speeds approaching 80 mph, he lost control and wrecked, the affidavit said.
When officers arrived at the scene, Carvajal and two other passengers were pinned in the vehicle, the affidavit said. A third passenger in the back seat, who has not yet been identified, was dead, the document said.
Carvajal and the two passengers were taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge, the affidavit said.
There, a passenger told police “that they knew they were being pursued by the police and that he told Carvajal to stop, but he refused,” the affidavit said.
The two injured passengers have not yet been identified.
Carvajal faces bail of $25,000, the affidavit said.
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November 27, 2009
Spike strip halts car chase suspect
A man was arrested tonight after leading Travis County sheriff’s office deputies on a nearly 30-minute car chase, officials say.
Jose Espinal, 17, was clocked doing 85 mph in a 65 mph zone about 7:30 p.m., Travis County sheriff’s office spokesman Roger Wade said.
Espinal refused to pull over and instead headed south on Interstate 35 through the Wells Branch neighborhood just north of Austin, Wade said. He turned southeast onto U.S. 183 before eventually heading east on U.S. 290 East, Wade said.
Wade said the chase ended after deputies laid a spike strip on U.S. 290 between Springdale and Johnny Morris roads.
The spikes punctured the left front tire of Espinal’s vehicle, and he was apprehended shortly before 8 p.m, Wade said.
When deputies searched the car, they found what they suspect to be property stolen from another vehicle, Wade said. Further details about this property have not been released.
No injuries or damage to the vehicle were reported, Wade said.
Espinal was charged with evading arrest and burglary of a vehicle, Wade said. He was being held in the Travis County Jail.
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November 17, 2009
Boy found safe in back seat of car after chase, police say
An Austin man led police on a 25-mile chase last night with his 3-year-old son in the back seat, Georgetown police Lt. Todd Terbush said today.
Timmy Ray Garza, 25, was in the Williamson County Jail today facing a clutch of felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from the chase, Terbush said. Among the charges are driving while intoxicated with a child under 15 and endangerment of a child, both felonies.
The chase started about 9:20 p.m. when an officer tried to pull Garza over after he failed to stop at a light on Leander Road near Interstate 35, Terbush said.
Round Rock officers alerted to the chase blew out two tires on the Honda with road spikes, Terbush said. After entering Austin, officers blew out the remaining tires with road spikes, he said.
“After he lost all of his tires he still reached speeds over 70 miles an hour on his rims,” Terbush said.
Officers followed the suspect from I-35 to U.S. 290 and to U.S. 183 when the Honda began smoking. The driver abandoned the car in the 7100 block of Ed Bluestein Road about 9:45 p.m., Terbush said
The man injured a leg jumping from an 8-foot embankment, Terbush said, and was subdued by a Georgetown officer using his taser.
Not until the chase was over did officers know the boy was in the back seat of the car, Terbush said.
He was turned over to the state Department of Child Protective Services, Terbush said.
Child Protective Services officials as a policy do not comment on cases involving juveniles that haven’t made their way through court, Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the department, said Tuesday.
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