ROSHARON, Texas -- The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has launched a new investigation after a dangerous roadway clash between prison managers and crews from Local 2 Investigates.

The ordeal was captured on videotape and two young children were caught in the middle, suddenly thrust into a county roadway before some vehicles had come to a stop.

"It was a bad decision," said TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. "That is being dealt with."

The ordeal unfolded on FM 655 more than one mile away from the Terrell Prison Unit near Rosharon in Brazoria County, where Local 2 Investigates has been exposing allegations of corruption behind bars for the past month.

Prison system headquarters in Huntsville had been alerted that news crews would be arriving to report on the latest chapter in this developing scandal.

Local 2 Investigates was preparing a broadcast on the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee scheduling hearings in Austin for June 4 in response to the growing allegations of prison employees working in concert with inmates, sometimes accepting cash to make sure rules could continue to be broken.

As two trucks from KPRC Local 2 approached after 9 p.m. on Wednesday, the videotape shows no action at a guard shack that is typically manned by armed guards during a lockdown or escape.

There were none of the stop signs, flashing lights or cones that are usually present when that shack is staffed and all traffic is stopped as it enters or leaves the area.

Two men in plainclothes were seen standing near that booth, but the tape shows neither man motioning or moving toward the news crew.

The news trucks passed through, along with other motorists who were driving on FM 655.

Moments later, a private car raced past the news trucks at speeds the Local 2 Investigates team estimated at more than 80 mph. The car swerved and then activated its hazard warning lights, before pulling across both lanes of the public roadway.

The cameras rolled as the driver grabbed two children and hurried them out of the car before other traffic had come to a stop.

The children, appearing to be a girl around 5 years old and a boy appearing to be around 9 years old, rushed over to stand on the right shoulder of the road as the news trucks and other traffic halted for the sudden roadblock.

A man from a second vehicle then emerged and declared over and over, "I'm the warden here. I'm the warden" as he told the news crews they could not travel on the public roadway.

Both men refused to provide any identification or state their names when asked by the Local 2 Investigates team.

TDCJ now identifies the second man as Kenneth Negbenebor, the warden of Ramsey I Prison unit, which is located near the Terrell unit.

On the tape, Negbenebor painted a different picture than the videotape demonstrates from his standing at the guard shack.

"I was trying to stop you there but you almost ran over me," the warden said.

KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Stephen Dean countered, "No we didn't. We were recording that. You guys were just standing there on your cell phones. Nobody waved at us."

Negbenebor answered, "Yes I was."

Local 2 Investigates has learned that prison prosecutors from the Brazoria County District Attorney's office are now reviewing tapes of the broadcast to see if the prison employee with children in the car may have committed the crime of endangering children.

The prison system did not identify him, saying he is a lieutenant over corrections officers.

TDCJ Spokeswoman Michelle Lyons issued a written statement, which reads in its entirety:

"Our goal was to set up a staging area where Mr. Dean could safely conduct his report -- it was never the intention that an officer would use his vehicle to block the road to the facility. This was not agency-sanctioned behavior, nor was it requested -- this officer was acting on his own, albeit believing he was helping a unit warden. As an agency, we obviously have as much concern for the welfare of an officer's children as does the general public. This matter has been referred to the Office of Inspector General, the independent internal affairs division which investigates allegations of criminal activity and serious policy violations within the prison system."

State Sen. John Whitmire, chair of the Criminal Justice Committee said he called for the hearings after seeing Local 2 Investigates report on wide-ranging corruption at the Terrell Unit.

He said it raised issues about whether similar crimes are being committed at Texas' other lockups.

Whitmire said, "I don't want to be having this conversation when we have a blow up somewhere."