A 35-year-old man who led Dallas County Sheriff's deputies and Dallas police on an erratic pursuit for about 45 minutes before being apprehended Monday morning is now hospitalized after the police car he was being transported in was involved in a minor crash.
Dallas County Jail/NBC 5 NewsDallas police said Monday afternoon the chase began when they tried to stop the driver of a red Mercedes and that the driver refused to pull over. Dallas police then requested assistance from the sheriff's department, who later identified the driver as Billy Ray Perkins.
At various points in the pursuit, the driver drove at varying speeds, crossed over medians, went off-road to change directions and even drove into dangerously into oncoming traffic.
"I feel like there was something wrong with this guy, the way he was acting, no one acts like that," Wesley Lewis, who witnessed the chase, said.
During the chase, the driver appeared to be taunting police by making gestures out of the window and by sticking his head out of the sunroof while driving.
Driver in Custody After Erratic Chase in Dallas
On at least two attempts, the driver was able to elude stop-sticks deployed by police.
At about 11:45 a.m., the man slowed the vehicle to a crawl along a narrow street. As law enforcement boxed in the vehicle, the man got out of the car and tried to get away on foot. It wasn't long before he was dragged down and taken into custody by police near the intersection of Corrigan Avenue and Ledbetter Drive.
"He was actually running and they just tackled him like a football game, you know, they sacked him," said Mark Jones, who witnesses the end of the chase from the median. "And they laid him down on the corner and hog-tied him."
Dallas police said the man faces a charge of evading arrest and was wanted on other outstanding misdemeanor C warrants.
As the police patrol car was taking Perkins to the Dallas County Jail, the patrol car was involved in a crash about 20 feet from the scene. A photo from the crash appears to show the cruiser was struck from behind.
Perkins was placed on a stretcher, loaded onto a Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance and taken to the hospital for an evaluation.
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No other details were immediately available.
Editor's note: The sheriff's department initially said the vehicle was reported stolen. Dallas police confirmed Monday afternoon that the vehicle was not reported stolen.
