ATASCOSA COUNTY, Texas – A 47-year-old Poteet man who admitted to being on an “extended methamphetamine binge” led law enforcement officers on a wild chain of events that finally ended in a crash and his arrest.
According to Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward, a Poteet police officer was stopped at a stop sign at an intersection in Poteet around 6 p.m. Sunday, when a vehicle crashed into his patrol unit from behind.
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The shaken police officer pursued the suspect, identified as Reynaldo R. Ruiz, to a nearby convenience store where the suspect intentionally rammed the patrol unit from the front, disabling it, Soward said in a Facebook post.
While residents helped the injured officer out of his wrecked patrol unit, an Atascosa County deputy sheriff and the animal control chief investigator pursued Ruiz and apprehended him after a short foot pursuit, Soward said.
Ruiz was placed in the back seat of a Poteet Police Department patrol unit when he somehow managed to slip out of one of his handcuffs and get out of the patrol unit, Soward said. While officers tried to take Ruiz back into custody, he jumped into the patrol unit and took off.
Moments later, A DPS trooper saw Ruiz driving recklessly and at a high rate of speed toward a fire truck and several firefighters. The trooper fired three shots at the stolen police vehicle, Soward said.
With several law enforcement units pursuing him, Ruiz then headed toward Pleasanton on FM 476, where he nearly hit a car head-on, Soward said. Ruiz continued down Main Street in Pleasanton, where he tried to run over a Pleasanton police officer. The suspect made a U-turn and drove back north on Main Street, where a deputy sheriff fired four shots at the stolen police unit.
Ruiz drove back to Poteet with officers in pursuit and then headed south on Highway 16, where about 1.5 miles north of Jourdanton, he collided with a Poteet police unit driven by Chief Bruce Hickman, Soward said. It was then that a deputy sheriff shocked Ruiz with a Taser and he was finally taken into custody.
The suspect was taken to Methodist Atascosa Hospital, where he was examined and released and booked into the Atascosa County Jail. Ruiz has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon and felony escape. Pleasanton police detectives plan to file one count of aggravated assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon. Additional charges are expected to be filed against the suspect.
While he was interviewed by law enforcement, Ruiz admitted to investigators that he intentionally attempted to hit as many police cars and officers as he could. He also confessed to being on an extended methamphetamine binge, Soward said.
None of the officers injured suffered any serious injuries.
The Texas Rangers, the Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office, and the Poteet and Pleasanton police are investigating.