Hero Officer Blocks Speeding Car With Kids Inside
The suspect was driving with two young kids in his car
— -- A Texas police officer who drove his police cruiser directly into the path of a car speeding close to 100 mph the wrong way down a highway is being hailed as a hero for saving lives.
Dash cam video shows the moment Shenandoah, Texas, Police Sgt. Gary Sharpen swerved his police cruiser directly into the path of the speeding vehicle Friday night.
The driver of the vehicle, who was allegedly intoxicated, slammed on his brakes just feet before Sharpen’s stopped car, the video showed.
“Knowing this guy was as reckless and as dangerous as he was, he needed to be stopped one way or another,” Sharpen told ABC affiliate KTRK.
“If I'm put in that position again, I think I'll do the same,” he said.
The driver, later identified by police as Jose Luis Alejo-Zavalija, 25, continued on his high-speed chase with police after being stopped by Sharpen, officials said.
Alejo-Zavalija made a U-turn and drove through gas stations and parking lots until he finally stopped several minutes later, according to authorities.
When police arrested the suspect, they discovered he was driving with a 4-year-old and an 18-month-old child in the car, they said.
Authorities charged Alejo-Zavalija with a total of five felonies, including DUI, evading arrest and child endangerment.
He was being held on $125,000 bond, a Shenandoah Police Department spokesman told ABC News today.
Alejo-Zavalija has not yet retained an attorney, according to the Montgomery County District Clerk.
