HOUSTON – A wrong-way driver that Houston police said put hundreds of innocent drivers at risk ended Sunday morning when police fatally shot the driver.
The 63-year-old driver was in a gray Toyota Tundra driving the wrong way down US-59 near Hillcroft and Chimeny Rock. Police said the man was intentionally driving the wrong way while hitting between 30-40 cars while driving.
"He had every intention to injure or possibly kill someone out on the highway tonight," said HPD Spokesperson Victor Senties.
The driver's identity hasn't been released.
Police quickly spotted the man's truck after getting calls from concerned drivers. Once they tried to pull the man, but he became more combative and ran from officers, attempting to strike several pursuing patrol vehicles.
After a 30-minute chase, officers were able to box the truck in as the driver tried to pull out of a parking lot of a strip center on Beechnut. But the suspect rammed another patrol vehicle in reverse and attempted to run over officers as he tried to escape.
That's when officers opened fire on the suspect.
"Obviously fearing for their lives and that of their fellow officers," Senties said. "The officers tell us that when they gave him verbal commands and they were trying to get him out of the vehicle, he had a very strange look in his eye as if he was in some sort of trance, not entirely there."
Senties said one of the officers who fired his weapon has two years on the force and the other is an eight-year veteran. Both have been placed on three-day administrative duty, which is standard procedure.
Paramedics took the suspect to Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, where he later died.
HPD Homicide, Internal Affairs and the Harris County District Attorney's Office are investigating the incident.
