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Police Apprehend Driver of Stolen Truck

Aired November 07, 2001 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, this is Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta. You've just been listening to KDFW, the local news there, as they have been bringing us these live pictures of a police pursuit going on right now with this stone truck in Dallas, Texas.

If you are watching this, we can tell you right now it is going northbound on Houston School Road at Red Bird Lane. That's the last location that we had, obviously coming up to another intersection.

But if you live in the area, -- well, now it's going to be taking a different direction. We will try to bring you the latest coordinates there of where this truck is and where it's heading. But, there is an announcement coming out from police, emergency services, that all schools keep kids in the schools and trying to keep everybody from coming out on the road.

So, if you are watching this in the area, you are being asked, please, to stay inside, not get in the car if you live within this area or anywhere close to this.

And if you are just joining us, once again, a stolen 18-wheeler from DeFord's (ph) Lumber in Dallas, Texas. You know, a lot of criticism has been made that television stations run these pursuits, these police pursuits. But we can tell you right now, that this is definitely a safety concern, and that's why we are bringing this to you. Because not only is this a huge rig, but there is a fire that continues to burn on the back of this truck, lumber has been falling off the back of this truck.

We saw pictures where the man driving this truck has put not only people on the ground in danger, but also police officers. And getting on the highway, and putting those folks in danger. It even barely missed a school bus at one point. So, this is a major safety concern and that's why we are bringing it to you. And hope that if you are living in this area, you see what's going on, and you just stay off the road.

And I can tell you, you can see the police cars, a number of police cars, behind, on the other side, in front of this truck. Also the police helicopter in the air -- oh, coming up right behind a pedestrian.

Now, see here, this is why -- this is why we are showing this to you, because folks got to know, have to know this is going on and to stay off the roads. This man is having absolutely no regard, no respect, for anybody on the road. And you never know what a person like this is going to do.

And we're going to go back and listen in to find out if we can find out any more about what's happening here, about the person driving this stolen truck. We're going to listen to our affiliate, KDFW.

CHIP: ... are going to keep him from making any headway, continuing down the road. It seems like every time he has a car, a vehicle in his way, he almost loses control of that truck, which is on fire still from the back end.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Let's talk about that. Let's talk about traffic at this point. Shortly after 3, right now, schools would be letting out at this point, perhaps afternoon traffic even starting to build up soon. In this area, Chip, what's it going to be like for this driver come not too long from now.

CHIP: Off the top of my head, I can't think of any school zones on loop 12 Ledbetter, where he is, to the I45 interchange, which is the good news. You can see, though, he is driving quite erratically, on the opposite side of traffic there for about four blocks. Now back on the correct side of traffic.

If he were to continue in the direction he is going, I cannot think of any schools that would be affected at this point. If he doubles back, or goes north, there could be a couple of schools, elementary schools, that could be a factor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: OK. What about afternoon traffic? How heavy is this going to get and when will it get heavy in this particular area?

CHIP: In this area, I45 southbound is going to be the heaviest, making your way from Lamar down to I20. But, normally it doesn't thicken up until about 4:00. So, we still have about another hour as he continues to approach the I45 interchange. He just passed Bonnie View (ph) and Sunny Vale. I would say that is he going to have some...

(AUDIO GAP)

PHILLIPS: Once again, this is Kyra Phillips live at the CNN Center in Atlanta. We've lost audio there just for a moment with our affiliate, KDFW in Dallas, Texas, but I'll try and bring you up to date with as much information that I can right now.

This is a police chase that's taking place with a stolen 18- wheeler in Dallas, Texas. We know that the stolen truck came from DeFord's Lumber. We know -- I can tell you from the beginning, it's been going on for about an hour -- more than an hour and half right now. More than an hour and a half. And, I'm actually -- I'm going to tell my crew right now, that I'm going to get off this wireless IFB and go into my battery. I'm losing my battery and my connection, too. So, I'm going into the hard wire, guys. OK.

Now, I can talk a little bit more about what's happening here. Can my crew hear me OK? OK, great. I want to make sure that we're still, we're still hot here.

Once again, you are watching a police pursuit of a stolen truck in Dallas, Texas. It's been going on for more than an hour and a half now. Now, previously, when this started, there was a huge fire going on at the back of this truck, causing quite a safety concern, and police have been trying to surround this truck and keep folks off the road, signalling ahead to other police officers in the area. They have been getting to intersections, blocking off the intersections, very concerned about safety right now.

You can see how the driver is driving, very erratically. They have a police helicopter in the air. You can hear the sounds of the helicopter coordinating with the police officers on the ground. And I can tell you how this communication works. As the helicopter is flying above, he or she is keeping track of where the truck is, where it's headed, and then giving that information down to the police officers on the ground.

OK, the truck has now come to a stop. It has finally come to a stop. We are going to see if the driver comes out of the truck. I see a door opening. The door did slightly open. Not quite sure. The SWAT team has come out. The SWAT team -- it looks like he is down on the ground, the driver of this truck is down on the ground. The SWAT team has come out, surrounded him. Handcuffing him. Checking the cab, seeing if anybody else is in the truck. They cleared the cab. Doesn't look like anybody else is in there.

They have given the signal that it's clear to the other guys around the truck. As you can see, the whole SWAT team surrounds the truck to make sure no one else is on this truck. They're coming up on top, checking inside, double-checking to make sure no one else is in there or if there is any weapons or bombs or any type of -- anything that could cause permanent danger to the police officers around this man.

Can't quite get a glimpse of the man who was driving this truck. But I can tell you right now, and as you can see by the helicopter shots here from KDFW, our affiliate in Dallas, Texas -- here, it's coming around -- that police do have this man on the ground in handcuffs, after leading police on a high speed chase for more than an hour and half, putting quite a few pedestrians in danger. A fire on the back of this stolen truck. Lumber falling off. He was driving on opposite sides of the road. Having absolutely no respect for anybody else in the area. Even at one point, we were told, that he was honking and waving at people, thinking this is some type of joyride.

Well, I can tell you now, he's probably not smiling and neither are all these police officers. You can just imagine the adrenaline of trying to keep everybody safe from somebody like this, who just shows no regard for human safety.

Once again, the driver of this stolen vehicle in Dallas, Texas, a stolen truck from DeFord's Lumber. He has been apprehended. The truck has come to a halt. I can tell you about an hour or almost an hour ago, that one shot was fired at one point, when they thought this truck came to a standstill. Don't know if the driver was hit or not. But he has been continuing to drive this truck until now. It's finally come to a stop and they have him arrested and they do have him in custody.

Once again, if you are just joining us, this was a carjacking call that came in more than an hour and a half ago. To the Dallas Police and led police on a high-speed chase for more than an hour and -- about an hour and 45 minutes. A fire at one point -- a fire was on the back of the truck. Lumber had caught fire. It was falling off. There were some barrels on fire that were falling off.

This driver had almost hit a school bus at one point. The police, I got to say, police did quite a good job at moving ahead and clearing intersections and keeping the public safe as they were clearing the area.

We are going to take a quick break and we're going to be right back.

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