Overnight chase, crash injures resident

11:23 AM CDT on Tuesday, June 28, 2005

By Carolyn Campbell / 11 News

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An early morning police chase ended in a violent crash and injured a man who was sleeping in his home.

KHOU-TV

J.L. Holmes was awakened when a car crashed through the wall of his apartment overnight.

That chase came to an end at when the car crashed through a wall in an apartment complex on South Lawn at Scott in southeast Houston.

It began when a patrol officer tried to stop a stolen BMW. The driver fled down Scott Street with the officer in pursuit.

The suspect jumped out of the car, leaving it in gear.

"He opened the car door, bailed out of the car and let the car keep rolling. The car rammed into the apartment complex, and he took off running," says HPD's Brandon Dorris.

It slammed into J.L. Holmes' apartment, which is full of his oxygen tanks. Falling debris woke up the 68-year-old, who was asleep in his bed.

A sore shoulder was apparently the only injury Holmes received. "…First I know, the wall was falling... a car broke in here," he says. He was checked out by paramedics at the scene.

This was the second time a car had hit his apartment, and Holmes had moved his bed to another wall.

The suspect, who faces multiple charges, was caught a couple of blocks away.