Driver in custody after live-streaming police standoff that shut down I-35 in Fort Worth
Interstate 35W at Loop 820 in Fort Worth were shut down for several hours Thursday night during a police standoff with a man on an overpass who was live-streaming himself and threatening to jump off the bridge. The 32-year-old man eventually surrendered and was taken into custody around 10:30 p.m.
The driver live-streamed on Facebook most of an hours-long pursuit and negotiations with police. His mother can be heard on a call desperately pleading with him to stop as he’s driving.
The video ends abruptly after he is on the bridge for more than an hour, then continues around 9:15 p.m.
More than 7,000 people were watching as of 9:30 p.m. when the video stopped, and there were more than 4,800 comments on the Facebook video. “We are praying for you.. just get down and get some help,” one viewer wrote.
Multiple northbound and southbound lanes of I-35W and eastbound and westbound Loop 820 were closed to traffic, Fort Worth police said in a post on X around 7:10 p.m. The closures were due to the pursuit that ended on a northbound ramp that merges onto the eastbound loop.
According to a police report, the chase began after Fort Worth officers initiated a traffic stop in the 5300 block of Sycamore School Road and the driver failed to yield to officers.
In one of the driver’s live-stream videos, he points his phone to the back of his pickup, where a patrol vehicle is seen chasing him.
“I’m sorry, but I gotta go and do it, man,” he says in the video. That live stream went on for about 40 minutes.
In the second video, a police negotiator is heard saying, “I know your family, your mom doesn’t want this, brother,” when the man is on the interstate bridge.
Officers are repeatedly heard telling the man they want to help him and make sure he does not get hurt.
The man, who told police several times that he was not armed, posted a third live stream on Facebook at around 9:15 p.m. During this video, he shows police vehicles parked at a distance on both sides of the bridge, and negotiators are no longer talking to him on speakers.
“They really want to hurt (me),” he says in the video.
He goes on to say he might as well turn himself in. “I don’t want to die, but I don’t go it no more,” he says. He starts talking about cases that he “didn’t do” and says police were discriminating against him for being a convicted felon.
“You should’ve seen how they came at me,” he says in the video. He said 20 officers approached him and did not try to “understand” him.
“Is this (expletive) worth it,” he says in the video, mentioning he is on parole until he is 39. “I don’t need no (expletive) help, man.”
He is then heard yelling at officers and pans the camera to show the SWAT officers in front and behind him on the ramp.
“I feel like they’re going to shoot,” he says in the video. “They’re gonna shoot me right now.”
“You don’t want to come here,” he is heard telling an officer. That video ended around 9:30 p.m.
The man was booked into the city jail late Thursday night. He had out-of-town warrants and also faces charges of evading arrest with a vehicle, manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance, tampering with evidence and collision involving damage to a vehicle in connection with Thursday’s incident, according to jail records.
If you or a loved one is experiencing a crisis or suicidal thoughts, there is help available. Call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 7:57 PM.
