Man runs bicyclist over with stolen truck, leads police in chase in East Riverside: police

AUSTIN, Texas - A man is now facing multiple charges after Austin police say he ran over a bicyclist with a stolen truck, then led police on a seven-minute, nearly seven-mile-long chase in East Riverside over the weekend.

What we know:

34-year-old Jose Alberto Torres has been charged with:

• 1 count of second-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
• 1 count of third-degree felony evading arrest/detention with a vehicle
• 1 count of state-jail felony unauthorized use of a vehicle

The charges stem from an incident early Sunday morning in the 2300 block of the westbound service road of E. SH 71, where an auto-ped crash had been reported, according to court paperwork.

When police arrived, they found a bicyclist in "significant pain" with fresh abrasions to his knee caps and holding his left leg in pain. His bicycle was nearby with a bent rear wheel and a shirt that had tire marks on it. The bicyclist was also holding a license plate that reportedly fell off the truck that hit him.

That license plate identified the truck as a 2024 gray Dodge Ram 1500.

The bicyclist was taken to the hospital and admitted for fractures in his leg and in need of surgery. He told officers that he had been riding his bike and remembered being "abruptly struck from behind". He was thrown off his bike and landed in front of the Dodge.

The truck left the scene without assisting him, then later returned and drove towards him again. The bicyclist was able to hobble away before another truck arrived, and the Dodge drove off again. He told police he was not able to see the driver as the Dodge had dark-tinted windows.

Police also spoke to the driver of the second truck, who reported seeing the bicyclist on the ground and the Dodge turning around to hit him again. The driver told police she parked between them and that the driver of the Dodge was "mean mugging" at both her and the bicyclist, meaning he was scowling at them.

APD got surveillance footage from a nearby building that showed the Dodge had accelerated towards the bicyclist, even jumping the curb to hit him. The Dodge also maneuvered around the damaged bike to accelerate again towards the bicyclist, before appearing to drive over him and then making a U-turn before the other truck stopped to help.

Within minutes of the second truck arriving, the Dodge fled the scene.

Later, the Travis County Sheriff's Office informed APD that the truck had been stolen from a home in Manor overnight. The truck's owner was able to use the truck's Sirius XM radio to locate it in East Austin.

Police attempted a traffic stop, but the driver took off at a high rate of speed, leading police on a seven-minute, nearly seven-mile-long chase before the truck was disabled.

Police apprehended the suspect, identified in the court paperwork as Torres, and noted that he matched the description given by the witness in the second truck and the Ring camera footage from the Manor home.

What's next:

Torres is currently being held in the Travis County jail on a collective $50,000 bond for all three charges. 

He has a court appearance scheduled for Sept. 9.

Dig deeper:

According to Travis County court records, Torres has a criminal history extending back to at least 2009 in the county. 

He has been charged and sentenced for multiple felonies, including theft, burglary, drug trafficking, evading arrest, and assaulting a family or household member with previous convictions.