SAN ANTONIO – A teenage driver who led Castle Hills police said led them on a chase early Wednesday is also being investigated as a suspect in a burglary.
According to Castle Hills Police Chief Johnny Siemens, officers originally had to tried to stop the driver after noticing his car matched the description of one involved in an overnight burglary within the San Antonio city limits.
Siemens said when officers attempted to pull him over shortly before 5 a.m., the 17-year-old driver sped off.
“I (said), ‘What? Wait a minute!’ I saw the car going, like, 100 miles an hour and two cops right behind him,” said Ricky Jimenez, who was sitting at a bus stop on Vance Jackson Road near Interstate 10. “And then he just stopped all of a sudden, bam!”
What Jimenez witnessed was the tail end of the chase, which came to an end when the teen driver turned onto Greenhaven Drive and hit a small SUV head-on.
Police said the man in the SUV was delivering newspapers at the time.
No one was hurt in the crash.
At one point, officers believed they had the teen cornered on a dead-end street.
However, he was able to slip by officers by driving through a drainage ditch, police said.
“He threw something out the window,” Jimenez said. “The police came down the road. They had the lights. They went all the way back down the alley where he came through.”
Siemens said the driver had tossed a gun out of his window during the chase.
Officers searched the area but did not find it.
They also questioned a 27-year-old woman who was in the car with the teen, someone who the suspect told officers he had just met and picked up.
The woman later was released and is not facing any charges, police said.
“The younger generation, it’s not the same no more,” Jimenez said, laughing. “The world’s changing too fast.”
After the fast chase, the teen will be facing charges, which most likely will include burglary.
Siemens said officers recovered several stolen items from his car.
He said that charge, though, would have to come from San Antonio police who are investigating that break-in.