TYLER, Texas — A state report on Thursday revealed the identity of the man who was killed after leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase in a stolen box truck across several East Texas counties.
According to a Texas Attorney General's Office report, Aaron James Wingate, 41, led police on a pursuit while he was driving a stolen box truck on Sept. 11 and multiple marked law enforcement patrol units were following him.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Adam Albritton said the pursuit began in Forney and then stretched across several counties and before eventually heading into Smith County, where the chase ended.
During the hourlong pursuit, Wingate drove toward oncoming traffic, which caused several drivers and officers to take evasive action to avoid a collision. He refused to stop, including when law enforcement deployed tire deflation devices, the report stated.
After he continued to ignore law enforcement's verbal and visual signals, Wingate was shot in the 15000 block of State Highway 31 West to "stop his continued use of deadly force, which was endangering motorists, including law enforcement," the document read.
Wingate was hospitalized and later died, the report explained. His cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound, and the manner of death was listed as a justifiable homicide.
If he would have been arrested, Wingate would've faced charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest with a motor vehicle, according to the report.