PARKER COUNTY— A 19-year-old Rhome man could have pulled over and accepted a citation — but he fled from a Parker County Sheriff’s deputy and things turned out a lot worse for him.
On Sunday night, Dec. 29, a Parker County Sheriff’s deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop but the driver failed to stop, leading officers in a vehicle pursuit that traversed into Tarrant County before it ended in a crash.
“Shortly after 8 p.m., sheriff’s deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a 2015 white Ford Mustang in the 1300 block of Northwest Parkway in northern Parker County,” Parker County Sheriff Russ Authier said in a press release. The location is near David Beard’s Catfish Restaurant, just inside the Azle city limits.
The reason for the attempted stop was an improperly displayed buyer’s tag on the Mustang.
PCSO Public Information Officer Deputy Danie Huffman identified Shay Martin Gilbert, 19, who lists a Rhome address, as the driver of the car. Gilbert did not pull over when the deputy’s emergency lights and sirens alerted him, which led to the car chase.
“Gilbert continued the high-speed chase throughout Parker County and into Tarrant County while exceeding the speed limit and disregarding several other traffic laws including turning his lights off during one point of the pursuit,” Huffman said.
The driver continued driving onto Boat Club Road in Lake Worth, then to Interstate 820 East.
“Fort Worth Police (Department) joined the pursuit near the intersection of Interstate 820 and Interstate 35 West, lending the use of its helicopter to keep a visual on the suspect vehicle and relay radio communications to officers in the pursuit,” Huffman said.
The pursuit finally ended when the Mustang crashed into a vehicle parked in the 600 block of West Weatherford Street near Tarrant County College in downtown Fort Worth. No injuries were reported.
Looking from the air, the helicopter pilot relayed to officers that the suspect fled the scene on foot. Fort Worth police officers found and detained the suspect until sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene.
Gilbert had a passenger inside the Mustang, who identified herself as his girlfriend. She stated to the police she did not know why Gilbert fled from deputies. The girlfriend also reported she repeatedly asked Gilbert to stop and pull over, to no avail.
After his arrest, Gilbert was taken to the nearest hospital to be cleared of any injuries.
“As a precautionary measure, the suspect was cleared by medical staff at a local hospital before being booked into the Parker County jail on a charge of evading arrest or detention,” Huffman said.
As of Monday, Dec.30, Gilbert remains in jail in lieu of $15,000 bond. Authier expressed his thanks to Fort Worth Police for lending aid to the department's deputies to help prevent further incidents resulting from this pursuit.