SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police recovered a truckload of car batteries that were stolen from a Northwest Side Walmart on Thursday morning.
Officers responded to a call around 5:00 a.m. from the store, located near Loop 1604 and Culebra Road. They said four people were spotted taking car batteries from a storage area behind the business, loading them into the bed of a pickup, then speeding off in two separate vehicles.
Police were able to locate both vehicles and followed them for a time on a long, winding trek throughout the Northwest and West sides of town. At one point, a dispatcher said one vehicle was traveling in excess of 100 mph.
However, police said at no point, did officers engage in an actual chase.
A sergeant at the scene said they gave up following one car after the driver headed the wrong way on the access road of Loop 410 near Bandera Road.
The other vehicle, a pickup, continued on into a West Side neighborhood.
A dispatcher gave officers turn by turn directions, helping them to keep track of the truck.
It came to a stop near the intersection of San Patricio and Nuevo Leon, and the driver and passenger ran off.
Police searched the neighborhood but did not find them.
Officers at the scene confirmed that they were able to keep track of the truck, because the stolen batteries were equipped with a tracking device.
They said the trackers are attached to the batteries or installed inside them.
A spokesman for Walmart’s corporate office declined to comment on the devices.
Police, though, did recover all of the items that were stolen.
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