A harrowing scene unfolded on Tuesday in southeast Austin when a woman allegedly rammed her vehicle into four pedestrians before crashing into a food truck that then burst into flames. The Austin Police Department, alongside the Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS, addressed the media revealing the disturbing details of the incident that occurred around 4:30 p.m.
The altercation reportedly began with a call to APD about a stolen phone, as KVUE reported. The suspect, a woman, claimed to have been robbed of her phone which led to a search for the thief but with no successful result. Shortly after, a high-stakes call was made to report a vehicle collision at the same location, forcing officers to quickly converge on the scene. On their arrival, they found the injured pedestrians and the fiery remnants of a food truck.
Victims were attended to by first responders, with ATCEMS reporting that "One person was declared a “trauma activation” and was transported to a local trauma facility with “serious not expected to be life-threatening injuries.” in a statement obtained by KXAN. An additional person was also taken to the hospital with minor injuries, while two others were treated on site but declined further medical help.
Authorities pieced together that the earlier reported stolen phone incident was the trigger for the violent vehicular assault. The accused had apparently aimed to use her vehicle to run over the individual she had accused, thus leading to the chaos that ensued. "she was upset with the person who she believed to have taken that phone, and tried to use her vehicle to run over that person, and consequently struck that person as well as other persons, and the food truck, which then caught on fire," Austin Zarling, an APD public information officer, told KXAN.
The woman, who has not been named and remains at large, could face charges including failure to stop and render aid and aggravated assault. According to police, one of the victims is believed to be the father of the woman's child, which has led to the consideration of family violence charges. Though the woman has eluded capture, detectives believe they have enough identifying information to proceed with their investigation. The cause of the food truck fire remains under investigation, and no further details were released at the time of the authorities' latest statements.
