Police arrest four in connection with two separate chases

HIDALGO — Police arrested the driver of a stolen pickup truck involved in a police pursuit that ended with a crash Thursday morning.

A McAllen police officer tried to pull over a Ford F-250 pickup traveling on the 3700 block of Howard Drive about 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Police said the truck’s driver refused to stop, and a chase led down South 23rd Street to Hidalgo, where the pickup crashed into a Ford Explorer near the Burger King on the 100 block of International Boulevard.

Officers arrested the man who had been driving the stolen truck. Criminal charges against him are pending.

No injuries were reported after the collision, said Hidalgo police Capt. Robert Vela.

It remains unclear whether police used spike strips to stop the pickup truck, although the front and rear tires on its chrome-rimmed wheels were shredded.

The pickup was recently reported stolen in Mission, said Sgt. Joel Morales, a McAllen police spokesman. The truck has license plates issued in Marshall County, Iowa.

Police pursuits seem to be increasingly typical among local authorities in Hidalgo County — although the cause remains a mystery, said Hidalgo Police Chief Vernon Rosser.

“People fleeing from the police is becoming more common than I have ever seen it before,” Rosser said. “We light those suckers up and they take off on us. It’s getting to be a little more common than I like, but I don’t know what drives it.”

Police continue to investigate Thursday morning’s pursuit and collision.

The chase was at least the second through McAllen in less than 24 hours.

A pursuit that started near the Rio Grande in the Palmview area ended about 9 p.m. Wednesday on the 900 block of Houston Avenue in McAllen. Witnesses saw about 20 police vehicles and a helicopter zip past La Plaza Mall during the chase.

Lt. Lenny Sanchez with the Palmview Police Department said officers found about nine bundles of marijuana that weighed several hundred pounds.

Police arrested three suspects who are set to face drug charges at an arraignment hearing today.

No injuries were reported in either police chase.

Officers typically pursue people if they’re suspected of felonies and if traffic, weather and speed conditions permit them to do so without posing a threat to the public or to the pursuing officer.

State law does not establish a uniform policy for all local law enforcement agencies regarding pursuits.

There were 404 fatalities nationwide that stemmed from police pursuits in 2006, according to an analysis of government data by PursuitWatch.org, a pursuit safety advocate. Among those deaths, 133 of the victims were bystanders or occupants of uninvolved vehicles.

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Monitor staff writer Ana Ley contributed to this report.

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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.