A man who led deputies on an hours-long chase Friday was wanted for probation violation for burglary in Dallas County, and authorities say he struck two patrol vehicles with a tow truck while trying to escape.
According to the Ellis County Sheriff's Office, 24-year-old Lorenzo Marquez Jr. is charged with aggravated assault against a public servant concerning an incident involving an Ellis County deputy.
In an official press release issued by authorities on Saturday, ECSO says dispatchers received a call just after 1 p.m. from the Navarro County Sheriff's Office that a Rice Police Department officer was involved in an aggravated assault on a public servant.
Navarro County deputies informed ECSO that Marquez hit the officer's patrol car with a flatbed tow truck and fled north from the county on Oak Grove Road, heading towards Ellis County.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
At around 1:11 p.m., an Ellis County deputy said he spotted Marquez's tow truck at HWY 287 and Ensign Road in Ennis. ECSO says the deputy tailed Marquez, who ran a stop sign and drove under HWY 287 to the north service road where he stopped.
Officials say that just a minute later, the deputy reported that he fired his weapon because his patrol unit was "rammed" by Marquez's tow truck. Marquez allegedly used the car to push the vehicle about 38 feet until it reached a stop. The man then fled the scene and headed north onto HWY 287.
The sheriff's office says at about 1:14 p.m., state troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety saw the tow truck at Nesuda Road and HWY 287 in Ennis. Marquez turned south on Nesuda Rd. and lost control of the truck before rolling from the service road into a field. He exited the truck and ran to a woodline area towards Bardwell Lake, wearing an orange shirt and black shorts.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Multiple agencies joined Ellis County and set up a perimeter and a command post while searching for Marquez.
Several hours after the search, ESCO says the Texas Department of Corrections K9 unit out of Tennessee Colony found Marquez near the lake's waterline. He was taken into custody and taken to an ambulance, where he received medical attention for injuries.
Authorities say Marquez got his injuries from the crash, not a shooting. He remains in the care of medical staff, and once he is released, he will be booked into the Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Waxahachie. There, he will be formally charged and arraigned.
