A SWAT team had to tear out the passenger side of an 18-wheeler and drag out the “impaired” driver after a three-hour standoff on a Texas highway.
The driver kept the truck’s engine running and maintained a “glassy” face long after officers disabled the tires. They end up using smoke, gas and other non-lethal tactics to pull the driver out of the vehicle.
Footage shows investigators combing their K9s on the unidentified man through a destroyed door before pulling him off the rig and placing him in handcuffs just before 4pm — only to find the cargo car he was protecting completely empty.
“We still don’t know why he acted in the erratic manner he did,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters.
“It looks like there are some serious flaws … Just to the naked eye, that’s what it looks like.”
The strange standoff began at 1 p.m. when police found the 18-wheeler parked in the middle of the East Freeway exit lane in Houston.
The driver took off once he noticed the patrol car had its headlights on, and almost immediately engaged in “evasive action,” including swerving in and out of multiple lanes, Gonzalez said.
The SWAT team used Rook to break the door in half when the driver refused to exit the vehicle. @CharlyABC13
Deputies installed tire spikes, removing several tires, but the driver continued to crawl down the highway for several more minutes until the driver’s cab collapsed onto the pavement.
Officers tried to speak to the man in Spanish and English, but he ignored each attempt to communicate, police said.
“He seemed to be behind the wheel like in a daze, just turning the truck on like he was driving,” Gonzalez said. “And we are concerned that he may eventually progress and continue to wreak more havoc or put more people at risk.”
The driver appeared impaired and had a “glassy” face when police tried to communicate with him, according to officials. Fox 26
After tear gas also proved futile, the SWAT team used a Rook, a bulldozer-like vehicle modified for tactical use, to rip open the cabin door and send in a K9 — but the man still wouldn’t budge.
Eventually, officers went inside, physically pulled the man out and placed him under arrest.
No weapons were found in the car and the cargo was empty. His identification and charges were pending Wednesday night, according to Gonzalez.
Other details — including whether the truck was stolen and what the man’s plans were — remain unclear.
The incident blocked traffic in both directions of the highway, causing back-ups that stretched for miles and lasted several hours.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
