HOUSTON – A man who tried to kidnap a woman Thursday after asking her for sex led to a chase across Houston that ended in a head-on crash, police said.
Houston police said they received a call just after noon from a woman at an apartment complex in the 1800 block of El Paseo Street. The woman said that a man approached her in the parking lot, asked her for sex and then tried to force her into his car, police said.
A short time later, an officer spotted a car on nearby Holly Hall Street that was believed to be driven by the man, police said. The officer tried to stop the car, but the driver kept going, police said.
VIDEO: Sky2 flies over scene of chase that ended in crash
Police said the driver ran several red lights during the 13-mile-long chase through downtown to the city’s northeast side, where his vehicle crashed into two other vehicles at Crosstimbers Street and Lockwood Drive.
Maria Fernandez said she and her husband were in one of the vehicles.
“Right now, I feel better,” Fernandez said. “When it was like this, I didn’t think of nothing. I was just shaking and said, ‘Oh! My God!’ You see the things and you don’t think it will happen to you.”
Fernandez said she and her husband were not injured in the crash. The driver of the second vehicle was also uninjured.
Police identified the driver that led them on the chase as James Tinsley. A woman was also in Tinsley’s car, police said. It was not immediately clear if she was connected to the incident.
Both Tinsley and his passenger were taken to LBJ Hospital for treatment.