Parts of I-635 were closed overnight after a police chase.
Lengths of southbound I-635 to U.S. 80 were closed until around 5:30 a.m. following the pursuit, according to WFAA.
Officers spotted an SUV driving on three wheels in Duncanville early Tuesday morning. When police attempted to pull over the vehicle, it took off.
The car chase ended in Mesquite, where police assisted by deploying road spikes. The driver was arrested and charged with DWI and evading arrest, according to a press release from the Duncanville Police Department obtained by WFAA.
Dallas has been witness to its fair share of DWIs this summer. In early June, a man faced criminal charges after he reportedly fatally struck a pedestrian in Dallas while driving intoxicated, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Police said the man continued driving to work with the victim’s body parts in his car.
According to reports obtained by NBC 5 DFW, Juan Morgan Munoz, 31, was driving northbound on Storey Lane when he ran over the pedestrian. He fled the scene without calling 911, drove to his job at a body shop on W. Northwest Highway, and called the police 30 minutes later. The incident occurred in Council Member Omar Narvaez’s District 6.
Munoz’s coworkers said they were finishing work when Munoz arrived and unlocked the gate, instructing his coworkers to step away from his car.
While Munoz insisted he only had one shot of Patrón that afternoon, he did not pass any of the field sobriety tests, and his breathalyzer test registered a .179, more than twice the legal limit.
DWI checkpoints were outlawed in Texas in 1991; however, according to the Dallas Observer, the Dallas Police Department is petitioning for state law to allow checkpoints once more.
Texas would need to develop a checkpoint procedure for law enforcement to follow in order to re-institute sobriety checkpoints on the roads. Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia told a public safety committee that even though police presence on roadways is being increased, an officer can only pull someone over if they witness unsafe driving, reported the Dallas Observer.
DPD has been dealing with staffing issues for several years, which have dampened its efforts to fight crime. Only around 3,000 sworn officers are currently in the field, despite a prior City analysis recommending a force of roughly 4,000 based on the city’s population
For its part, the Dallas City Council signed off on a budget of only $654 million for DPD this fiscal year, considerably less taxpayer money spent on public safety than in other high-crime jurisdictions, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.