Suspected thief impaled by fence after van crashes during police chase, Texas cops say

A man in Texas is dead after he was impaled by a chain-link fence during a police chase early Monday, officials say.

A security guard from a trucking company in Houston called police to report a burglary in progress around 12:30 a.m., police said during a news conference.

The guard said two men in a white cargo van pulled into the property and stole a generator on a trailer, hooking it up to the van, police said.

The van was pulling away with the trailer in tow when police arrived and officers started chasing the vehicle.

After a short chase, the trailer detached from the van and rolled into a ditch, police said. The van then hit a curb, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle, ultimately crashing into a chain-link fence, according to police.

The passenger in the van was impaled by part of the fence, police said. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.

During an investigation, police found beer cans in the van, Sean Teare, division chief with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, told KHOU.

The driver is charged with felony murder, KHOU reported.

“[It’s] based on the felony that he was committing was evading in a motor vehicle, and during the course of that felony, he committed an act clearly dangerous to human life and it killed his passenger,” Teare told the outlet.

Police have not released the names of the two men.