18-wheeler chase ends with shots fired in Fort Bend County

07:05 PM CDT on Friday, October 15, 2004

From 11 News Staff Reports

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At least 40 police cars were involved in a dramatic high-speed chase with an 18-wheeler that started around 2 p.m. Friday in the 4300 block of Bissonnet. By the time it ended several cars, including a patrol car, were rammed and shots were fired at the 18-wheeler. Police say they found cocaine after arresting the trucker.

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Officers fired several shots at the truck but the driver wasn't hit.

According to Bellaire police, the driver was parked at a CenterPoint maintenance facility when a security guard approached him. He backed up and hit the building and a parked car. The driver drove off and witnesses called police. Bellaire police stopped the driver on Bissonnet near Loop 610. Police say that's when two women got out of the truck and the driver sped away, hitting a patrol car in the process.

The driver of the rig traveled down Hwy. 59 from Houston into Fort Bend County.

Officers from Houston and Fort Bend County joined Bellaire officers in the chase.

At one point the driver got stuck in traffic because of construction near the University exit. That's when he pushed a cargo truck and at least five other cars out out of the way to continue the chase.

Iker and Mariana Amzola were in an SUV that was pushed on top of a pickup truck by the 18-wheeler.

"And all of a sudden I start to feel something hitting my car from the back," said Iker Amzola. "And he was keep going and going and going and, you know, your first reaction is hit the brakes. And suddenly I see a big 18-wheeler coming on the side."

Malcolm Lindeman was in the pickup that ended up another the SUV.

"It was a heck of an experience," he said. "

The chase finally ended after the truck's tires were blown. Several officers surrounded the driver and fired shots into the truck but the driver wasn't hit.

The driver was pulled from the truck by numerous officers and taken into custody.

"There were shots fire, we shot the tires out of the truck," said Sgt. Paul Moseley with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Dept. "And we finally disabled it where you see it right now and took the driver into custody. He's now been taken back to the city of Bellaire where the charges originated."

Moseley said the officers fired at the truck because they feared someone was going to get hurt.

"This individual driving this truck had run into several civilian vehicles, pushed them off the roadway -- somebody was gonna die if he continued to drive the way he was driving," Moseley said. "There was no doubt about it."

No one was hurt.

Southbound traffic on 59 was still backed up for miles several hours after the accident. All lanes finally reopened just before 5 p.m. but the traffic nightmare continued into the night.

The driver was just hired Thursday by the company that owns the truck. He was filling in for another driver on Friday.

Police say the 34-year-old driver was in the back of the truck with one of the women when the security guard approached him. The other woman was sitting in the cab.

The security guard said when the trucker came to the front, his eyes were red and they appeared to be glazed.

Police want to question the two women who were in the 18-wheeler and they probably won't have any trouble tracking them down. They left their purses behind.