Car bursts into flames during police chase
Police dash cam,April 10/08:Police raced after a flaming Cadillac on Navarro Street early Thursday morning before arresting three of the four people inside.
The fourth fled after the chase ended at the corner of Goodwin Avenue and Navarro Street.
Officers said the pursuit began after Michael Angelo Salazar, 25, ran a red light at Ben Jordan Street and Houston Highway at about 2:30 a.m. When
More..they tried to stop Salazar, he pulled into the Fastop parking lot at 2103 Lone Tree Road, Police Chief Bruce Ure said.
Another officer was already parked there, Ure said.
“That’s when the car floors it, and the chase is on,” Ure said. “We would consider it to be a high-speed chase.”
Ure estimated officers made about 40 or 50 turns in about 15 minutes, tailing the car through side streets and fields. Police chased the car because the streets were empty, Ure said.
“He ran off the road several times,” Ure said.
A police-car video shows the driver using the roadway as a faint suggestion of where to drive – the Cadillac bounces into front lawns and eventually cuts through a field.
It was engulfed in flames and spitting sparks by the time it sped north on Navarro Street. It made a popping noise then stopped with a thud on the curb at Goodwin Avenue and Navarro Street, in front of Stripes.
Seventy-nine-year-old Santos Robles said she doesn’t hear well, but the loud noise woke her from inside her home about half a block away.
It seems the driver didn’t crash, but stopped the car because it was on fire, Ure said.
“I think the flames were singeing them,” Ure said. “I think the car was becoming more and more engulfed.”
Police and sheriff’s deputies blocked roads near the intersection. Four men jumped from the car, Ure said.
“The problem is, they wanted to fight,”Ure said. Police stunned Salazar with a Taser more than once, Ure said.
“He continued to fight, he refused to yield to their direction,” Ure said. “He weighed 270 pounds.”
Police also arrested Richard Anthony Martinez, 24, on suspicion of possession of marijuana and evading arrest and Timothy James Mercado on suspicion of evading arrest and on traffic warrants.
One officer was injured in the scuffle and taken to Citizens Medical Center, Ure said. The officer was treated and released.
Ure said he thinks the men fled because Martinez had marijuana and Salazar, who is unemployed, had $2,400 in cash. Less..
Added: Apr 12 2008 In: news_politics
By: jdischord 
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