Wichita Falls police allege a traffic stop Sunday evening turned violent when an officer was dragged while hanging out of an SUV window and getting punched by the driver.
Jose Antonio Ruiz of Wichita Falls was behind bars after being accused of taking off with an officer bending through his SUV window, as well as punching the officer in the face while driving away, according to allegations in a media release Monday from the Wichita Falls Police Department.
Ruiz, 55, was charged with aggravated assault against a public servant and evading arrest or detention with a vehicle, police said.
Ruize was being held Monday in Wichita County Jail on a total bail of $155,002, online jail records show.
The assault charge is a first degree felony punishable by five to 99 years in prison, and the evading charge is a third degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison.
Anyone accused of a crime is presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
About 7:15 p.m. Sunday, Officer Alex Parsons was patrolling Holliday Road and 24th Street in a police vehicle when he saw a silver Toyota Rav4 fail to make a complete stop at a stop sign at Holliday and 24th, police said in allegations in the media release.
Parsons pulled the vehicle over for the violation, and the SUV stopped in the parking lot of 2120 Holliday Road, police said. There, Parsons identified the driver and only person in the SUV as Ruiz from his Texas ID card.
Parsons asked him if he had insurance on the SUV, and Ruiz told the officer he didn’t, according to allegations. And Ruiz told Parsons he had just bought the vehicle and did not have insurance or proof of registration for it.
Next, Parsons asked Ruiz if he could buy vehicle insurance, and Ruiz suddenly reached for the gear shift and put the SUV into drive, according to allegations. As he did that, Parsons reached inside the SUV to try to prevent Ruiz from putting the SUV into drive, but the officer was unsuccessful.
Then Ruiz accelerated forward while Parsons’ torso was stuck in the driver’s window, police said in allegations.
Ruiz dragged Parsons about 150 feet until the officer could disengage himself from the vehicle, according to police allegations. Ruiz kept going northbound to flee on Holliday Road.
Parsons told an investigators that while he was being dragged by the vehicle, Ruiz punched him in the face several times, causing the officer to have a bloody and swollen nose, police allege.
Detectives with the WFPD Crimes Against Persons Unit and special operations officers were called out to assist and find the suspect, police said. The Special Operations Unit found Ruiz hiding in an abandoned house in the 1600 block of Huff Street, and he was taken into custody.
Ruiz faces not only charges related to the incident Sunday, but he was also found to have warrants for charges of parole violation warrant, unauthorized use of a vehicle, failure to appear and failure to stop at a stop sign, police said.
Ruiz was booked into the Wichita County Law Enforcement Center, police said. Parsons was treated and released at the Emergency Department at United Regional Health Care System, police said.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls officer dragged during violent incident, police allege
Reporting by Staff reports, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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By Staff reports, Wichita Falls Times Record News | USA TODAY Network
