Authorities say they’re unclear about why the man wouldn’t come out of the truck but that he sustained only minor injuries during his apprehension
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Authorities in Texas pulled out all of the stops to end an hours-long standoff on the side of the highway. A man driving a big rig led police on a slow chase before they stopped the vehicle with spikes. He wouldn’t exit the truck so a SWAT team used everything from a K9 unit to a robot battering ram to get him out.
The scene unfolded in Houston, TX on December 27th around 1 p.m. local time when deputies saw the truck stalled on the road. They approached with flashing lights but the truck then drove away. Police followed the truck driver who refused to pull over. Finally, they used a spike strip to disable the commercial vehicle.
At that point, the driver stayed in the vehicle and a standoff began. Authorities appeared to use tear gas in an attempt to make the driver leave but failed to make progress. Then, they brought in a robotic vehicle with a battering ram arm. Operators used it to smash in a window of the day cab and then to create a larger hole in the side of the truck. They used the same tool to rip the door off of the truck.
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Only after gaining access to the suspect’s vehicle did they release a K9 unit and swiftly surrounded the vehicle. They successfully apprehended the suspect, identified as Trinidad Cutshall, and subsequently transported him to a nearby hospital. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez noted that the suspect appeared to be suffering from heavy impairment.
Perhaps that explains some of his behavior. Gonzalez also told ABC that authorities attempted to communicate with him throughout the entire ordeal and that Cutshall wouldn’t respond. Evidently, when the robot arm broke through the truck he simply remained in the driver’s seat.
For now, he’ll face charges of felony evasion but there’s no word on when he’ll have his first court hearing. Due to the standoff, traffic in both directions was halted for several hours. Despite all of the drama the incident caused nobody left the scene with anything more than minor injuries.
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