Police say 21-year-old Martin Garcia crashed into one officer's motorcycle, another officer's car, got shot at by police, then managed to crash his car into a guardrail, leaving it hanging over the edge about 15 feet above a highway and running away.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, Garcia tried the old wasn't me line after being arrested, but officially changed his stance to not remembering any of it.
DPS dispatchers got a call early yesterday afternoon about an erratic driver on Interstate 10, and the responding officer spotted the Chrysler 300 in question, which already had some damage to it.
The DPS officer pulled the car over, and parked his motorcycle behind the car -- allegedly being driven by Garcia -- while another officer drove up and angled his car in front of the Chrysler.
Garcia apparently wanted no part in the traffic-stop business, as he threw his car into reverse and ran over the officer's motorcycle, which landed on top of the officer, according to court documents.
Garcia kept coming back onto the motorcycle and the officer, so the officer pulled his gun and got a few rounds off -- which prompted Garcia to go forward, ramming into the other DPS officer's vehicle, court documents state.
Garcia made it out of view of the officers, although another officer spotted Garcia's car on a U.S. 60 off-ramp -- where Garcia's Chrysler had crashed, and was hanging over the edge of the ramp, about 15 feet above the highway.
Officers eventually found Garcia strolling around on McClintock Road, verifying his identity and his ownership of that Chrysler hanging over the highway.
Police say Garcia's story was that someone else was driving his car and crashing it into things, and he was just running away from it.
Later, Garcia changed his story, saying he was drinking in the middle of the day, and didn't remember anything between the time he started driving and when he was arrested, according to court documents.
Garcia was booked into jail on two counts of endangerment, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, one count of hit-and-run with injury, and a misdemeanor charge for hitting things on the highway.
The motorcycle officer's leg was injured from his motorcycle being pushed onto him, and Garcia's bond was set at a cool $108,000.
