A suspect is in custody after leading police on a chase that stretched across multiple North Texas highways this morning, ending when the fleeing vehicle struck an 18-wheeler in the northbound lanes of Interstate 35 just north of Highway 114 in Fort Worth. The suspect jumped out of the vehicle and ran before officers caught up and made the arrest. Police reported no other injuries from the crash.
The pursuit began when Sansom Park police officers tried to stop a vehicle connected to a felony offense, according to CBS News Texas. Sansom Park is a small municipality of roughly 5,400 residents covering just over one square mile, entirely surrounded by Fort Worth, and its department often leans on the bigger city's resources once a pursuit crosses municipal lines, per background compiled from Wikipedia. That is what happened here: Fort Worth police officers joined the chase to assist as it grew, eventually spanning roughly 15 to 20 miles across Tarrant and Denton counties before ending near the Alliance development area close to Texas Motor Speedway, a corridor known for heavy freight and tractor-trailer traffic.
During the chase, the suspect threw various items out of the vehicle window, the outlet's report notes. Neither the identity of the items nor the reason for the felony stop that started the pursuit has been released, and the suspect remains unidentified as of this report. Charges have not yet been announced either.
What the Suspect Could Be Facing
Under Texas Penal Code Section 38.04, using a vehicle to intentionally flee from law enforcement turns evading arrest from a misdemeanor into a third-degree felony, carrying two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to Justia Law. Separately, throwing objects from a moving vehicle during an active pursuit can trigger a tampering-with-evidence charge under Penal Code Section 37.09 if prosecutors determine it was done to conceal or destroy something's value as evidence, per Texas Defenders. That charge is also a third-degree felony punishable by two to ten years behind bars.
Tarrant County prosecutors have shown little patience for multi-jurisdictional evading cases in recent months. Just last week, a Tarrant County jury handed a parolee 30 years after a high-speed chase that ran from Lake Worth into Fort Worth on felony evading and drug charges, Hoodline reported.
Fort Worth's Pursuit Policy Under Continued Scrutiny
Fort Worth Police Department pursuit policy, portions of which were made public in February 2024, requires officers to weigh risk factors like traffic density and road conditions and to only continue a chase when the risk of a suspect escaping outweighs the danger to the public, according to WFAA. State regulation reinforces that standard: under Texas Administrative Code Title 37 Section 3.53, officers operating pursuit vehicles have a duty to abandon a chase when continuing it creates unwarranted danger to the public or to themselves, per the Legal Information Institute.
Those rules exist against a backdrop of intense local scrutiny. Fort Worth released dashcam video in March from a 2023 pursuit that killed an uninvolved driver and cost the city a $250,000 settlement, part of what Hoodline previously reported was ongoing debate over chase safety in Tarrant County. Suspects tossing contraband from moving vehicles is not new to the area, either — in February, Fort Worth police arrested two suspects after a chase in which a rifle was thrown from a fleeing vehicle and later recovered at the scene.
Fort Worth Police Department confirmed a suspect was taken into custody following Thursday's chase, though the department has not released the suspect's name or the specific felony that prompted Sansom Park officers to initiate the stop. Those details, along with what exactly was thrown from the vehicle during the pursuit, remain unresolved as the investigation continues.
