FORT WORTH, Texas — A low-speed police chase on major highways ended when police tasered and arrested the suspect Friday night, police say.
The White Settlement Police Department released compiled dashcam and body camera footage depicting multiple officers pursuing a vehicle from White Settlement to Downtown Fort Worth. The chase ended after officers pursued the suspect on foot and tasered him on an Interstate 35W service road.
Joshua Dylan Gilchrest, 31, was arrested and charged with nine crimes stemming from multiple agencies, according to a press release from the White Settlement Police Department.
“This video footage demonstrates the inherent risks that our communities and officers face when suspects refuse to follow the rule of law and jeopardize public safety through ongoing criminal activity,” Chief of Police Christopher Cook, stated in the release.
At 8:28 p.m., Friday, June 28, White Settlement police responded to a Flock Safety License Plate Reader alert indicating that the driver of a blue passenger car entering the city was a wanted fugitive, police said.
The release says, minutes later, an officer attempted to pull the car over in the 500 block of of Parkside Drive in White Settlement. A woman exited the vehicle and ran into a home and the male driver, wanted for several felonies, sped away.
Cook told WFAA Sunday that officers tagged the blue car with a tracking dart and would have backed off the chase, but the suspect drove into a responding White Settlement supervising officer's car as the pursuit began. The officer was not hurt, but elected to continue following the driver.
Officers pursued the suspect south on Dale Lane and then eastbound on I-30 before the driver turned northbound on I-35, police said. Cook said the Fort Worth Police Department assisted the chase by eight times deploying spike strips, damaging and disabling multiple tires on the suspect's vehicle.
"He was driving on the rims, which was good for us because that went from a 90 MPH car chase to about a 10-15 MPH car chase," Cook said.
Cook said the car "gave out" on the shoulder of the southbound lanes of I-35 near downtown Fort Worth. The suspect ran away, crossing into the northbound lanes and onto the service road, police said.
Multiple officers from the Fort Worth and White Settlement police departments chased the suspect on foot, police said. Body cameras recorded the sound of oncoming vehicles' brakes squealing as drivers followed the 31-year-old across the interstate.
Police say Gilchrest approached a black pickup on the service road and ordered a woman out of the truck. As one officer approached, the suspect ran to the back of the truck.
"We guarantee he was going to try to steal that black truck," Cook said. "Thankfully, we were right on his tail to prevent that from happening."
Seconds later, video shows an officer deploy a Taser to immobilize the suspect.
The chase lasted about 45 minutes and spanned no more than 15 miles, Cook said.
"When you decide to run from us, you collide with us, and then you try to carjack, we're absolutely - you can plan on it - we're absolutely going to deploy a Taser to immobilize you," Cook said.
He noted that low-speed chases pose a unique set of problems. They require more patrol cars to shut down travel lanes and on-ramps, and distracted drivers may not see the slowdown as they approach.
"People get impatient," he added. "When you're doing 10-15 MPH, invariably, somebody will be impatient and try to pass the pursuit."
The suspect was taken to a hospital before being brought to White Settlement Jail, the release states. He was booked and charged with:
- White Settlement – Aggravated Assault Against a Public Servant with a Deadly Weapon
- White Settlement – Evading Arrest and Detention with a Vehicle
- White Settlement – Possession of Marijuana
- Southlake – Theft of Property Less Than $2,500 with 2 or More Previous Convictions
- North Richland Hills – Theft of Property Less Than $2,500 with 2 or More Previous Convictions
- North Richland Hills – Second County of Theft of Property Less Than $2,500 with 2 or more Previous Convictions
- North Richland Hills – Evading Arrest and Detention with a Vehicle
- Fort Worth - Theft of Property Less Than $2,500 with 2 or More Previous Convictions
- State of Texas – Felony Parole Violation – Pardon and Parole Board
Gilchrest cannot bond out of jail because the prior parole violation.
Cook told WFAA the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has also opened an investigation involving Gilchrest and the home his female passenger ran inside.