SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police say there was an unexpected ending to a chase early Friday morning that stretched along three highways and reached speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.
The car came to a stop near Loop 1604 and Dove Canyon after running over spike strips that Bexar County sheriff’s deputies, who were called to assist, had placed on the highway.
While they had the expected result, flattening the tires of the car, police say they were not prepared for the people who were inside the vehicle.
“It took us by surprise,” said Sgt. Steven Ozuna with SAPD. “We didn’t expect to find juveniles in the vehicle when we stopped it.”
The three suspects, ages 14, 15, and 16, all were taken into custody as they tried to climb out of the car.
They each face a charge of aggravated robbery.
Police say they led officers on a chase in a stolen car along three different highways and several city streets.
“It started around Summit Parkway and 410 and, of course, ended (on the Loop 1604 access road near Dove Canyon). It went down 410, up I-10, up 1604 and ended here,” Ozuna said.
Officers already were looking for the car when they spotted it around 4 a.m.
They said a 20-year-old man reported that it had been stolen from him by a group of men with a gun.
The victim said he went to a motel near Loop 410 and Summit Parkway to meet up with a woman who he first contacted on social media.
However, after he arrived, things took a dangerous turn.
“When he got into the room, he was robbed, assaulted, his personal property was taken,” Ozuna said. “Once he was left in the room, bleeding, they went out and took his car.”
The man told police he was pistol-whipped by men who had been hiding in the bathroom.
He was treated at the scene by EMS.
Meanwhile, police began their search for the car.
After the chase and subsequent stop with spike strips, the vehicle was left with at least one shredded front tire and had to be towed away.