HOUSTON – A Houston man accused of aggravated robbery and carjacking was taken into custody Tuesday morning following a lengthy police pursuit that spanned multiple parts of the city.
According to HPD, officers were dispatched to an aggravated robbery call at a gas station at 59 E. Crosstimbers Street. The caller reported that a man armed with a 2-by-4 wooden plank had robbed another man and stolen his vehicle.
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Shortly after 8 a.m., officers located the stolen vehicle and attempted a traffic stop, but the driver refused to pull over, prompting a pursuit.
Police said the chase traveled from Little York Road to Mesa Road, then from Mesa Road to Tidwell Road and onto Hardy Street, where officers temporarily terminated the pursuit.
A short time later, officers located the vehicle and resumed the pursuit near Lockwood Road as the suspect headed south toward Interstate 45.
The suspect continued southbound on I-45 into southeast Houston, where officers briefly lost sight of the vehicle.
The pursuit resumed in the southeast Houston area near Broadway Boulevard. From there, the suspect re-entered I-45, traveled onto the 610 Loop, and exited at Wayside Drive.
HPD said the driver continued along the Wayside Drive corridor before turning onto Long Drive. In the 7000 block of Long Drive, an HPD unit performed a precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver, successfully disabling the stolen vehicle.
After the vehicle was stopped, the suspect ran from the scene on foot and entered a nearby home. Officers believe a resident was inside the house at the time, and the suspect did not know that person.
Police said nobody in the house was injured. The suspect later surrendered to officers without incident.
HPD said a police helicopter and license plate reader technology were used throughout the incident to help track the stolen vehicle and assist officers during the pursuit.
After the chase concluded, HPD said it’s unusual for suspects to “get away” during police pursuits, but officers sometimes choose to call off chases when the circumstances pose a risk to public safety.
“It’s not common, but sometimes they get away if they’re driving too fast or too reckless for us to keep up with them,” HPD Southeast Division Capt. Jonathon Halliday told reporters.
Police have not released the suspect’s name but confirmed he is wanted out of Randall County, Texas, in connection with a robbery case.
No additional injuries were reported.