HOUSTON – A suspect who allegedly stole a Houston police officer's squad car from a northwest Houston motel Wednesday afternoon has been taken into custody.
Houston police said the man stole a marked Houston Police Department patrol car at the Lisa Motel on Hempstead Highway just before noon Wednesday, but crashed it a few miles away.
Sources told Local 2 that Patrick Castro is the man who was arrested.
Police said the suspect was sitting in a car with a woman at the motel when an officer on routine patrol drove through the parking lot. The manager told the officer the man wasn't supposed to be on the property. HPD said when the suspect was confronted, he became violent.
"The suspect makes his way out of his vehicle that he is the passenger in over to where our patrol vehicle is, our officer's car. He manages to stand over there the whole time, and as he is standing over the door of the officer's car, he points it again at the officer," said HPD spokesperson John Cannon.
Police said the officer opened fire as the suspect jumped in the patrol car and drove off.
Investigators said the suspect was only in the patrol car for about 10 minutes until he lost control and crashed into a tree in the 4900 block of Creekmont Drive near Mangum.
Neighbors in the area said they heard what was going on and rushed out to see the suspect and actually held him down until police showed up.
"He said, 'I'll give you money, just let me go. Help me get away.' But my other buddy said, 'No,' and from there we took him down and then police showed up and we backed off," a witness told Local 2.
The suspect, according to public records, has a long criminal record including arrest for possession of a controlled substance, aggravated assault against a public servant and evading arrest.
Charges in this most recent case are pending.