Early Tuesday morning, chaos unfurled on a Nashville interstate as a 22-year-old man engaged in reckless driving and ended up colliding with a police patrol car. The Nashville Police Department reported on their website that Carlos Esquivel surrendered to authorities after the incident that took place at approximately 1:30 a.m.
The trouble began when Officer Joe Medina of the Central Precinct attempted to pull over the Dodge Challenger driven by Esquivel on Korean Veterans Boulevard. Ignoring the stop, Esquivel escalated the situation by proceeding to I-24 West, where he began to recklessly perform donuts on the roadway. It was in this chaos that he decided to quickly drive up an entrance ramp, after striking the officer's car in a head-on collision, leaving Medina’s vehicle in wreck and himself in need of medical attention, as per the Nashville Police Department.
Medina, following the collision, had to be transported to a local hospital. According to the Nashville Police Department, he has been treated for his injuries and released later the same day, no doubt with the gratitude of returning to home over lingering what-ifs that haunt the edges of high-speed chases turned violent.
Investigators quickly ran the license plate of the Challenger, which inevitably led them straight back to Esquivel. The journey from frenetic highway spins to a calculated surrender does little to abate the severity of charges he faces – aggravated assault on an officer, felony evading arrest, reckless driving and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. His actions have coalesced into a bond set at $27,500, a price tethered to the choice to speedily flee rather than to face the moment's music.
