The chase came to an end off Beaumont Highway and Oates Road in northeast Houston, where video from SkyEye captured police on the banks of a retention pond with the chase suspect in the water.
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Police were initially called to a location north of the Heights about three men stealing metal at an abandoned home.
Officers attempted to stop a white pickup truck at 5:51 p.m. The truck took off.
Then, the chase ended about 15 minutes later along the side of Beaumont Highway. Two passengers stayed in the truck, but the driver jumped out and ran over the railroad tracks and into the retention pond, police said.
SkyEye flew over what turned into a standoff with the driver. Police said he refused to come out of the water, but then he physically could not. Using a rope for safety, officers waded in to get him.
"He was basically locked up, couldn't move. We felt like he was in danger if we didn't get to him," HPD Lt. Larry Crowson explained. "The officers did a good job."
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The suspect, who has not been named, was then placed in an ambulance. Police later confirmed he was hypothermic.
The ordeal played out on the ABC13 Houston 24/7 Streaming Channel, where SkyEye's Don Armstrong noted that this was a first-time event in his years of broadcasting.
"This is one of the crazier things I've seen covering news from a helicopter all these years," Armstrong told ABC13's Mayra Moreno and Jonathan Bruce.
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