Man Shot by State Trooper: DPS

Driver, 3-year-old son wounded during police pursuit

A driver was shot by a state trooper and a child passenger was injured during a police chase in Kaufman County on Monday, the Department of Public Safety said.

But DPS said the 3-year-old boy in the vehicle was not grazed by gunfire as investigators first thought.

DPS said the incident began when a trooper clocked a car speeding on Interstate 30 near Greenville at about 2:15 p.m.

DPS Senior Cpl. Robert White said Steven Capps, 35, would not stop. White said Capps led a pursuit south from Hunt County into Kaufman County where speeds reached more than 100 miles per hour.

White also said troopers tried to use stop sticks, a tire-deflation device, at least twice. Both times, Capps evaded the stop sticks and turned the car on troopers.

The chase finally ended on Farm Road 986 near Terrell after Capps drove into a ditch while trying to avoid the tire-deflation devices.

Troopers opened fire on the car, wounding Capps twice in the abdomen.

His son, identified by family members as 3-year-old Raython Capps, was belted into a booster seat in the front passenger seat. The child wasn't shot, but he does have a visible injury on his back. Authorities say the injury occured when a bullet fired at the vehicle hit the back of the child's booster seat.

Doctors are kept Raython overnight at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.

DPS said troopers did not see the boy in the car during the chase.

When asked if the protocol would have changed if troopers knew a child was in the car, White said, "there actually is no protocol on that" and that discretion would have been up to the troopers.

"It happened too quick, so we just don't know," he said. "A lot of what-ifs, but we just don't know."

But Julie Kent, Capps' sister, said she called Kaufman County dispatchers when she heard that her brother was in a chase and told a dispatcher that Capps' 3 year-old son might be in the car.

Steven Capps was airlifted to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was in critical condition Monday night.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said substances thought to be illegal drugs were found in Capps' vehicle.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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