A pair of high-speed pursuits in southern Montague County Friday netted a carjacking and stabbing suspect out of Austin and a stolen vehicle out of Wichita Falls.
Pursuit one
Montague County Sheriff Marshall Thomas said a morning pursuit was brief with a reckless driver suspect, while an afternoon chase began with a “armed” suspect out of Austin seen on U.S. 287, chased briefly into Bowie and stopped on Lawhorn Lane.
Shortly after 11 a.m. on Aug. 21 the sheriff’s office received a call of a reckless driver in the area of Farm-to-Market Road 174 12 miles out of the county, but heading toward Montague County. Deputy Chase Pelton responded and observed what he believed to be the suspect vehicle.
The driver came into Bowie on FM 174 and local police deployed tire spikes in the area of Matthews and Wise in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The driver finally came to a stop in the parking lot of the post office at Mason and Wise in the center of downtown Bowie.

The second pursuit began shortly after 2 p.m. when Deputy Pelton heard radio traffic about a possible carjacking/stabbing suspect driving on U.S. 287 from Alvord in a silver Mustang. The suspect, Richard Camilo Vela Jr., 53, Austin, was listed as “armed and dangerous.”

A disturbance at Selma Park last Friday evening ended with the arrest of three people and two police officers receiving minor injuries as they attempted to arrest a suspect.
The incident involved officers from both the Bowie Police and Montague County Sheriff’s office as they responded to a disturbance near the Blue Dock at Lake Amon G. Carter in Selma Park.

Read the full story on these incidents in your mid-week Bowie News.