"Upside down just like his life’s gonna be," Phil La Fara, a Port Aransas neighbor, said.
Those are the words of a neighbor in Port Aransas who caught of Tuesday night’s high speed chase and rollover accidenton video from his apartment. This incident shook people in the Port Aransas community up.
“Not even two seconds later, the car comes flying down Allister. I’m like, oh my gosh, Dad, there’s a high-speed car chase and I just saw it!," Shelby Ferris, a Port Aransas neighbor, said.
Behind the wheel of that car was 17-year-old Tyler Ellis from the Austin area.
“You know, he was driving recklessly. He was all over the place. And I was just praying that he wasn’t gonna hit anybody because we have families, and you know, locals, and everybody’s out walking around. It’s right when everybody’s going home. It’s a busy, busy time," Alicia Searcy, a Port Aransas neighbor, said.
Searcy saw the chase on her way home from work Tuesday night.
“When I found out that he crashed, I was like, it was just awful. It was just awful. I’ve never seen anything like that in this town," Searcy said.
The incident started at the beach near mile marker 35, where a Port Aransas police officer tried to stop them for speeding. Then the car dodged the officers and sped off of the beach into a neighborhood where these neighbors saw what happened next.
“And all I saw was a police officer with a gun in his hand, and he was running,g and he was running, and I was like you need to come outside, and she went out there and there was just four girls and they were pulling them out and I was recording, I always record everything," Jeremiah Cabrera and Colibri Turicchi, Port Aransas High School students said.
The four people who got out of the car were handcuffed. One of them was carrying a backpack with two handguns, a loaded 40-round magazine, drugs, and cash.
“He came here with all bad intentions. That is not what this town is about. And that is not what we stand for. And we’re definitely not gonna allow it, as you saw," Searcy said.
After the others got out of the car, Ellis sped down Highway 361, where the car crashed and rolled over across from the Texan and Stripes gas stations.
Ellis was taken to the hospital after the crash Tuesday night. He was medically cleared and charged with manufacturing/delivering a controlled substance, evading arrest, detention with a vehicle, unlawful carrying of a weapon, evading arrest detention, and reckless driving.
“There are gonna be those individuals that come to cause problems. But, what people need to understand is that Port Aransas is not gonna tolerate it," Searcy said.
This high-speed chase and accident sparked concern among neighbors of all ages in Port Aransas.
“I mean, he almost hit us. I almost turned in the turning lane, and if I did, it would have been a head-on collision. I’m so glad that she was in the car warning me because I didn’t even see it until he passed us," Cabrera and Turicchi said.
The Port Aransas Police Department urges neighbors to call the PAPD line at 361-749-6241 or 911 if they see anything suspicious.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page. Subscribe today!
