A 20-year-old man accused of leading Texas Department of Public Safety troopers on a chase from San Juan to Rio Grande City last year is facing a three-count indictment which includes a charge of attempted capital murder of a police officer.
A Hidalgo County grand jury indicted Manuel Morales on Aug. 10 and he is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
Morales is also charged with evading arrest or detention with a vehicle and aggravated assault on a public servant.
DPS arrested Morales on Aug. 20, 2020, after troopers deployed a spike strip as he entered Rio Grande City, causing him to crash.
The chase happened after a trooper spotted a black Chrysler 300 driving at a high rate of speed northbound on Cesar Chavez Road south of SH 495, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The trooper turned around and tried to stop the vehicle, which continued westbound on Expressway 83 at a high rate of speed.
“The vehicle continued to drive recklessly almost striking other vehicles on the expressway,” the affidavit states.
A DPS trooper attempted to spike the Chrysler 300 on the highway, but DPS says Morales drove across the highway from the far left inside shoulder toward the trooper who was positioned on the far right shoulder and “intentionally attempted to strike her with (the) vehicle.”
Video of this circulated widely on social media at the time and shows the trooper jumping out of the vehicle’s way as it nearly strikes the trooper.
DPS says the chase continued toward Mission where they allege Morales tried to strike a marked DPS unit from the rear.
Once outside of Mission’s city limits, a trooper fired several shots at the Chrysler’s tires, according to the affidavit.
Morales continued fleeing, but was stopped just as he entered Rio Grande City when he hit another set of spike strips, which ended his flight from authorities, according to DPS.
At the time of the incident, DPS said troopers determined several people inside Morales’ vehicle were in the country illegally.
After medical personnel checked everyone out, the people in the country illegally were turned over to Border Patrol and Morales was booked into the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center.
He has remained there on a total of $1,100,000 in bonds, records show.
