AUSTIN — The driver who police said led police on a chase in a stolen vehicle along Interstate 35 in South Austin has been charged, arrest documents showed.
On Sept. 8 at 7:45 a.m., Austin police received a call from someone who claimed that their Honda was stolen that morning. At 10:47 a.m., the owner of the vehicle called police to report that she found her vehicle listed for sale on Craigslist and that her cell phone was inside the vehicle. She told police that her phone was showing that the vehicle was at a location near Riverside Drive. An officer found the car at a gas station with a man and woman inside. As the officer approached the vehicle in a patrol car, the driver -- identified by police as John Cruz, 21 -- started to lead police on a chase across Riverside Drive and southbound on I-35.
The driver allegedly drove on the wrong side of the road and drove through stop signs and red lights. In the 8000 block of South I-35 near Slaughter Lane, police said the driver lost control and slammed into guardrail, bounced back into the roadway, struck another vehicle and then slammed head-on into a concrete wall.
The driver immediately jumped out of the vehicle without checking on the woman inside the car -- identified in the affidavit as Cruz's girlfriend -- and ran off. Police said she suffered from minor injuries.
A police helicopter and K9 helped search for Cruz before he was found nearby.
Police said his girlfriend identified him as Cruz and "reluctantly stated he was the one driving the stolen vehicle." Cruz is currently in the Travis County Jail on a combined bail set at $60,000.
