VIDEO: New details released after man caught throwing rocks at cars in Austin

Man arrested for rock throwing incident in Austin

Austin police have arrested a man in connection to the rock throwing incident in South Austin on Thursday.

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin police have arrested a man in connection to the rock throwing incident in South Austin on Thursday.

The backstory:

Video showed a man standing above Ben White Boulevard, throwing rocks down at moving cars. This set off an hours-long standoff.

Police said they arrived on scene at around 12:45 p.m.

"Upon arrival, officers located victims who advised that a suspect had thrown rocks or bricks, large items, from the overpass onto the Ben White proper," said Ofc. Austin Zarling, with the Austin Police Department.

FULL VIDEO: Man throws rocks at cars in Austin

A man was arrested after he was caught on camera throwing rocks at cars in South Austin. (Video courtesy: Drew Capetillo)

Officers said four vehicles were hit.

Police said the situation escalated when the man went under the overpass and refused to get out. SWAT and crisis negotiators were called in, shutting down Eastbound Ben White for hours.

After hours of negotiating, officers arrested the man.

His name is Travion Washington. He faces 11 charges including criminal mischief, deadly conduct, and assault.

Dig deeper:

Austin has seen how dangerous these situations can become. Back in 2016, police arrested a man pegged as being the I-35 serial rock thrower after receiving nearly 100 reports of rocks being thrown at vehicles in a matter of about two years. 

Some people were left with debilitating injuries.

Travion Washington

In this case, police said no one was seriously injured.

Washington has a lengthy criminal history in Travis County, including several felonies dating back to 2020. Many of them were dismissed, or the prosecutor reviewed and declined.

Local perspective:

"If he threw something at my car, I would have spun around and tried to tackle him down," Austin resident Jonathan Montalvo said.

Montalvo drove through the area hours later.

"As we got closer, I started seeing all these cops set up back-to-back, one by one, and I was, like, it's more serious than a crash, for sure," Montalvo said.

"Then I see the snipers and all that, and I'm like, oh, dang. Like, so right, luckily in Texas we can own guns or whatever, right, so I started clutching my gun. I got like, do I got to be safer or what? And then I see the guy pointing up to the little bridge with the sniper, and I'm like dang, it's that serious," Montalvo said.