Multiple area law enforcement agencies were involved in a high speed chase early Saturday morning of a stolen vehicle which resulted in the arrest of two Brownwood men.
According to Brownwood Police reports, the owner of the vehicle had left the keys in the ignition and the engine running while he went into the Food Plaza on Fourth Street and Magnolia on Friday night, January 11th, at approximately 11:50 PM. As he left the store, he saw his maroon 2006 Chevrolet 2500 truck driving away on Magnolia toward 14th Street the report states.
Brown County Sheriff’s Office reported that deputies were dispatched at approximately 1:45 AM Saturday to assist a McCullough County Sheriff’s deputy with a pursuit in progress which was travelling inbound toward Brownwood on US Hwy 377 from Brady. One BCSO deputy was able to catch the pursuit around the intersection of FM 1176, where he observed the vehicle traveling over 100 mph in the northbound lane followed by a patrol vehicle from Mills County Sheriff’s Office which had its sirens and emergency lights activated, according to the report.
The pursuit continued into the Brownwood city limits, where the vehicle ran over a spike strip deployed by a Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper in front of the 3M plant. The vehicle swerved into other lanes of traffic and continued at a high rate of speed despite the two flat tires it had incurred, according to the report. It finally slowed after striking a curb at the intersection of Coggin and Hwy 377; its driver and passenger jumped out while the vehicle was still in motion and began running at the intersection of 21st Street and Hwy 377, the report states.
Two sheriff’s deputies continued the pursuit in their patrol units while another BCSO deputy continued the chase on foot. The passenger, identified as 17-year-old Anthony Aguirre (pictured top left), was found by a BCSO deputy in a side yard of a residence located at the corner of Coggin Avenue and 21st Street. The driver, identified as 20-year-old Adrian Cortez (pictured top right), was located by the deputy on foot, hiding in a fetal position under some brush behind the same residence. Cortez was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, evading arrest by vehicle and fleeing on foot. Aguirre was charged with evading arrest or detention.
The reporting deputy stated that he observed that Cortez was smiling as he was standing in handcuffs, so the deputy asked if he thought that this was funny and Cortez stated, “yes.” Brownwood Police confirmed that the vehicle was the same vehicle reported stolen earlier in the night.
Damage to the vehicle consisted of the two shredded tires and rims, front bumper turned upward, and driver’s side tire well damage, according to the report.
As of Monday morning, Aguirre was being held in lieu of $3000 bond and Cortez was held in lieu of bonds totaling $23,000.
Sheriff Bobby Grubbs stated that the chase was costly to the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, as one patrol unit hit a deer and another “lost control and slid, hitting a curb and blew out three tires.”
