Suspected Drunk Driver Causes Mayhem on Sherwood Way in San Angelo

A silver GMC Sierra pickup slammed into an ASCO utility pickup on Sherwood Way and hit it so hard that the utility truck over-turned.

As the utility truck sits on its side in the middle of the westbound lanes, a far more mysterious tale is emerging from witnesses at the scene.

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Above: The mysterious white Ford pickup that was seen chasing the silver pickup. (LIVE! Photo/Brandy Ramirez)

Tyra Chappa was eastbound on Sherwood Way and saw the silver GMC pickup approaching the traffic light on Campus St. to turn westbound.  “I could tell that he wasn’t slowing down,” Chappa said. The truck was approaching the intersection at a high rate of speed, she said. There was possibly a reason: a white Ford dually pickup appeared to be chasing the GMC north on Campus and was closing fast.

Chappa said that the traffic light on Sherwood Way was green in both directions. “I slammed on my brakes, and swerved to miss a utility pole,” Chappa said. She ended up in the parking lot of the Pregnancy Crisis Center at the southeast corner of the intersection. Chappa witnessed the gray GMC slam into the ASCO utility truck.

Just then, Chappa said, the driver in the white Ford behind the now-wrecked GMC hopped out and told the silver GMC driver, a male, to get out of the truck and get on the ground.

Chappa said that a registered nurse stopped just after the crash happened and rendered aid. But, she said, police and EMS crews took only about three minutes to arrive.

The driver of the silver GMC was administered a sobriety test by the San Angelo police. Shortly after the field test was complete, police were seen placing handcuffs on the GMC driver.

So far, there do not appear to be any major injuries. The crash happened just before 5:30 p.m.

The driver of the Ford was an off-duty firefighter who saw the GMC driver hit-and-run a vehicle earlier just before the chase and was tracking him down.

Update 6:46 p.m.

The suspect in the GMC has been identified as 19-year-old Christian Chavez. Chavez consented to field sobriety tests, but refused blood draws. He was transported to the county jail for driving under the influence.