HOUSTON – For 65 minutes Sunday night, a massive military-style truck turned Houston’s roads into a warzone.
The driver plowed through intersections, smashed into at least ten cars, and tried more than once to ram police off the road. Sirens screamed behind him as he led officers on a wild chase through Houston and Harris County.
It finally ended only when DPS troopers managed to shred the truck’s tires and surround the vehicle.
Investigators say the driver is a 53-year-old man now facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault and evading arrest.
But this story isn’t just about that chase.
It’s about the surprising man who owns that truck—and the hope he bought it with.
The Truck with a Different Purpose
Before it was the center of a viral police pursuit, the huge tan truck had a very different mission.
It belongs to Reuben Nero—better known in the music world as “Papa Reu.” He’s a gold-record-winning artist from Trinidad, a southern reggae–rap fusion performer who has shared stages with stars like Rick Ross and Lil Wayne.
On stage, he’s all energy and rhythm.
Off stage, he was quietly planning something else: how to bring light back to people in the dark.
After the Freeze, a Promise
In February 2022, a brutal winter freeze crippled Houston. Temperatures plunged, pipes burst, and thousands of residents were left without power. For days, neighborhoods huddled in the cold and dark.
Reuben watched that suffering and made himself a promise.
He bought a heavy-duty, military-style truck. Then he bought eight large diesel-powered generators.
His plan was simple, but powerful:
When the next catastrophic storm hits, he would use that massive truck to deliver generators to people who lost power. Families. Elders. Anyone he could reach.
“My mind was on how can I give help and give people power who need it,” Reuben explains. “I mean, I can’t cover the whole city, but I could do my part.”
The truck wasn’t just a vehicle. It was his way of turning success into service.
The Morning Everything Changed
Last Sunday night, Reuben parked that truck in a storage lot off South Post Oak Road, where he kept it safe between storms.
On Monday morning, his phone lit up like everyone else’s: TikTok clips, videos, frantic texts.
He opened one video and froze.
A huge military truck was flying down the road, sirens behind it, police cars swarming the screen.
At first, it was just shock. Then he noticed something small—something only the owner would see.
“I was waking up in the morning, watching TikTok, and just see a truck zooming by with a police chase,” he recalls. “And I was like…”
He leans forward, remembering the moment.
“I had two lights I installed in the front for extra light. And I saw those lights flickering and I said, ‘That’s my truck.’”
In a few seconds of shaky video, Reuben watched his dream be used as a battering ram.
From Lifeline to Weapon
Investigators later told him what had happened.
Sometime during the night, someone broke into the storage lot and stole his truck. Hours later, that same truck was at the center of the chase that gripped Houston.
The vehicle that was supposed to bring power and comfort in the next disaster had been turned into a weapon on crowded streets.
The suspect, deputies say, struck about ten vehicles before the official pursuit even began.
For Reuben, it wasn’t just property damage. It felt like someone tried to hijack his mission.
“It robbed the people. It robbed myself,” he says quietly. “Just robbed humanity, to me—that’s the way I feel.”
Picking Up the Pieces
Reuben has been told his truck is now sitting in an impound lot. He’s scheduled to pick it up, to see for himself what’s left and what can be repaired, what can be salvaged.
There will be insurance calls. There will be repairs, maybe expensive. And there will be court dates.
“I’m filing charges. I’m going to see him in court,” Reuben says. “I’m going all the way through this whole case, you know what I mean…”
Not out of vengeance, he insists, but out of principle.
Someone didn’t just steal a vehicle. They hijacked a lifeline he’d built for the community.
The Music Doesn’t Stop
For now, Reuben keeps doing the two things he knows best: creating music and holding on to hope.
In the studio, his voice still rises over the beat:
“Brand new car, Gucci style that she wear and when she walk by everybody want to stare, stare, stare…”
The melodies are joyful, the performances full of life—because he refuses to let one reckless act rewrite his story.
He says he’s still committed to his original plan: using that truck and those generators to help people when the lights go out again.
The chase may have gone viral, but the real story is what came before and what comes next.
A stolen truck, a shattered plan and a man who refuses to let someone else’s crime steal his purpose.