HOUSTON – A driver is in custody after leading police on an early-morning chase that started in southeast Houston and ended in northeast Houston after going through downtown.
The chase started around 4 a.m. Friday on Wayside after police say some men tried to steal an ATM from a Wells Fargo near Wayside Drive and Avenue J using a stolen cargo truck.
Police said the men backed the truck into the ATM and took money from inside the machine and surveillance video caught the driver as he abandoned the truck and took off in a black Mercedes-Benz with another man.
Officers responded to the alarm call, and officers spotted the car nearby, but the driver refused to stop and led officers on a 20-minute chase.
According to authorities, the chase went from Wayside Drive to 288 north through downtown to I-10 west before taking I-45 north to I-610 North Loop.
The chase ended after the driver stopped and the two men ran out of the car into a neighborhood near Crofton, east of Shreveport.
Using a K-9 unit and the HPD helicopter, they searched for the passenger for about two hours with no luck.
“We think he may have run into an apartment complex nearby and probably went into someone’s home that he knew inside the complex, so right now, no, I don’t think citizens should worry about anything,” said Sgt. J.D. Francis.
Police did not have a description of the passenger.
There is no word on what officers found in the car