AUSTIN — The Austin Police Department arrested the man suspected of driving a stolen vehicle near Ridgetop Elementary School Friday morning, forcing the school into a lockout for more than hour.
The lockout has since been lifted, and classes were not affected, Austin ISD officials said.
According to KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, officers were called out to an area near the school just before 8:30 a.m.
Police told the Statesman that a reported stolen vehicle was found empty in the parking lot of a Motel 6 in the 5300 block of Interstate 35 near 51st Street. Police said while at the scene, they witnessed a man and a woman attempt to get inside of the car. However, when police approached the car, the man fled the scene while the woman remained.
Police said the woman identified the man, and authorities discovered that he was wanted on several warrants out of Travis County for drug and assault charges, the Statesman said.
Officials said they set up a containment area, and they found the suspect hiding underneath a shipping container at a construction site. After the man refused to respond to requests from police to come out from under the container, police said the Austin Fire Department had to come out and lift the container.
The man has not been identified, but police told the Statesman that he would be charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and evading arrest. He'll also be booked into jail for the outstanding warrants; other charges could be pending as well, police said.
