Watch driver ram a police SUV, take off with Texas cops clinging to his truck door
Police in Weslaco, Texas say they’ve caught the man who took one officer there on a dangerous ride during a traffic stop.
Adan Loa, Jr., 28, has been charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer after police say they pulled Loa over Sunday along FM 88.
The video released by the police department shows a white F-150 pickup truck boxed in by two Weslaco police SUVs. Throughout the minute-long video, police can be heard yelling at the driver of the pickup to turn the truck off.
The video posted on the department’s Facebook page has been viewed nearly 250,000 times as of Wednesday afternoon.
Police responded to the scene after a call came in about a driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel, according to KGBT.
When one officer tries to climb inside the truck, the pickup’s front wheels begin to turn. When two more police officers hop on the side of the truck, the driver rams the police SUV in front of it, squeezing just enough room in front to take off down the rural, two-lane South Texas road.
The last officer left hanging on to the truck tumbles off and rolls as the F-150 tears through a stop sign, forcing a driver heading in the opposite direction to throw his or her car in reverse to avoid the truck.
One officer was injured during the incident, according to police.
“That officer did sustain bruising to his person and he’s been cleared and he’s back on the job...” Joel Rivera, chief of police in Weslaco, told KGBT.
Loa was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer, but was also held on warrants from other counties for burglary of a habitation, assault family violence and evading arrest, according to jail records.
He has previously pleaded guilty to theft in Hidalgo County, and been convicted of drug possession, according to court records. He has another drug possession case winding its way through the courts, as well.
Weslaco is a town of about 40,000 on the South Texas border, between McAllen and Harlingen.
This story was originally published January 30, 2019 at 1:14 PM.
