By Steve Elliott
Editor

A driver fleeing police in Alamo Heights was killed when he crashed into a house on the corner of Elmhurst Avenue and North New Braunfels early Monday morning.

At 3:39 a.m. Monday, an Alamo Heights police officer heading south in the 5600 block of Broadway saw a pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction that was driving erratically, almost striking the median. The officer turned on his overhead lights, turned around and tried to make a traffic stop on the truck. Before he could make the stop, however, the driver of the vehicle floored the accelerator to elude the police officer.

The officer pursued the suspect vehicle for approximately three minutes, and observed the passengers of the truck tossing a clear plastic bag from the vehicle that the officer suspected to contain an illegal substance. As of the time of the report, no baggie had been recovered.

The pursuit had now turned southbound on North New Braunfels at a high speed, and as the pickup truck tried to make a right turn onto Elmhurst, the driver lost control, skipped a curb and crashed into the side of a house on the corner of Elmhurst and North New Braunfels, coming to rest on the lawn. Approximately $10,000 of damage was done to the house, according to the San Antonio Police Department report. The SAPD had been called in to assist when the chase went outside Alamo Heights city limits.

The two passengers, a male and female, both minors, got out and tried to run to escape capture. The Alamo Heights officer caught the girl, who turned out to be a 15-year-old runaway. An SAPD officer apprehended the 17 year-old boy. The driver died at the scene and his name has been withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The incident is still under investigation by both police departments.