(KOXE photo)
On Friday, 05/17/2019, at approximately 5:10 am, Early PD officers along with other Brownwood and Brown County units were notified of a high-speed pursuit coming from Coleman County. The Pursuit had begun in Winters Texas and traveled through Coleman and was coming into Brown County. Brown County units and Brownwood PD units joined in the pursuit to assist while an Early PD unit began to set up in the 100 block of Early Blvd. in an attempt to throw spike strips out in front of the vehicle.
The vehicle entered Early in excess of 100 miles an hour and swerved to attempt to avoid the spikes. The vehicle then began losing control striking the raise center concrete medians and began to leave the roadway in the 200 block of Early Blvd between Taco Casa and Discount Tire. The vehicle began hitting street signs and landscaping when it struck a gas meter causing a fireball explosion. The vehicle continued across in front of Heff’s striking light poles and breaking concrete curbs then striking the Aarons rental truck. The Aarons rental truck crashed into a U-Haul truck at which time the car went next to the Aarons building only scraping the exterior. The vehicle came to a rest at the east side of the Aarons building.
The car was on fire when 3 occupants were removed from the vehicle. The occupants were transported to BRMC-ER by Lifeguard EMS. 2 individuals had non-incapacitating injuries. 1 female, who was not restrained, was later transferred to another hospital. Early Fire Department responded to the scene to extinguish the fires and assist with injured occupants.
2 of the 3 occupants, 1 male and 1 females were taken into custody by Winters PD. Several items of evidence were removed from the vehicle and from the individuals including a meth pipe and bath-salts. Winters PD took custody of evidence. During the end of the pursuit 1 Brown County SO struck a stop sign while turning into the location. The officer was not injured and the vehicle sustained minor damage.
The crash Scene is being investigated by the Early Police Department while the criminal case is investigated by Winters PD and Brown County SO.
David Mercer
Chief of Police
Early Police Department