Sheriff’s deputies said harassing employees at the Cameron County Courthouse, banging on a marked Cameron County Sheriff’s Department patrol unit and leading the sheriff’s department on a pursuit up to 90 mph led to the arrest of a 26-year-old man.
Damaso Christian Lerma is charged with one count of evading arrest with motor vehicle. He remained in custody Thursday at a Cameron County jail.
The event started Wednesday when the deputies were told that a man was harassing courthouse employees and banging on the patrol unit, Cameron County Sheriff’s Department stated in a press release.
When the deputies approached Lerma, who was sitting inside his vehicle, he drove off and started to circle around the courthouse, deputies said. Although the deputies tried to make a traffic stop on Lerma, he refused to pull over and a pursuit ensued, the press release said.
The pursuit began around the Brownsville downtown area reaching speeds up to 47 mph with minimal traffic, the press release said. Lerma then drove onto U.S. Expressway 77/83 at 90 mph, deputies said. As Lerma exited the expressway one of the tires on his vehicle had a blowout, deputies said.
Lerma’s vehicle eventually came to a full stop on an empty lot at Tampico and Naranjo streets in the southmost area in Brownsville, where he was then taken into custody, charged and transported to a county jail, deputies said.
