Lubbock Police Chief Greg Stevens released additional information about Tuesday morning’s chase that ended with one person dead after a crash.
Chief Stevens said it all started at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday after a report of shoplifting at the Wal-Mart at the South Loop and Quaker Avenue.
Stevens said officers attempted to stop the suspect’s car, when the suspect took off, leading police on a chase. At that time the officer leading the pursuit found out from dispatch that the suspect’s car had been reported Monday as a stolen vehicle.
Stevens said there was a very high speed chase, with speeds over 100 miles per hour, after the suspect took off onto the South Loop, heading east.
“It was a very high speed pursuit,” Chief Stevens said. “The officer’s vehicle reached speeds of over 130 miles per hour. However, the suspect vehicle pulled well ahead at times more than what appears to be a mile ahead of pursuing officers.”
Chief Stevens said the driver of the car died on scene after the crash. Stevens identified the suspect as 20-year-old Shane Warren. Police do not believe that Warren was wearing a seatbelt and that his vehicle hit a pole at some point.
Stevens said next of kin had been notified.
Stevens said in the last 12 months, LPD had about 90 pursuits, with about a third of them being canceled. He explained that police followed on this high-speed pursuit because they didn’t know who the suspect was in the Walmart shoplifting incident and the roads were clear enough at the time to allow them to carry out the pursuit.
Stevens said Accident Investigation was investigating the accident, and roads had been closed for a few hours Tuesday morning during their investigation.
“Since no one observed the collision occur, they [Accident Investigation] will have to reconstruct this, to some degree anyway, to try to figure out exactly what happened, how or why the individual lost control of the vehicle,” Stevens said. “We’ll also be conducting an administrative investigation to ensure that all of the LPD policies regarding pursuits and simply our processes and our protocols were followed during this situation.”
So far, Stevens believes that LPD officers handled the pursuit according to their department protocol.
The investigation continues for Lubbock Police. Keep checking EverythingLubbock.com as the investigation continues.
Lubbock Police also told EverythingLubbock.com that two other individuals involved with the Walmart shoplifting incident were arrested at the store, 41-year-old Leon Smith and 38-year-old Kristy West. Smith was arrested on two warrants from the Lubbock Sheriff’s Office and West was arrested for a Lubbock Police warrant as well as possession of drug paraphernalia. LPD said that a wide range of items were found at the scene of the crash that appear to have been stolen from Walmart, but they are still investigating to determine if that’s the case.
Below is the original press release from Lubbock Police earlier on Tuesday morning:
At approximately 2:30 a.m. this morning, Lubbock Police received a call of a shoplifter at Wal-Mart off the South Loop and Quaker. An employee was able to give police a description of both the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle.
Officers arrived on scene and attempted to stop the vehicle. The suspect sped off, and police began a pursuit traveling eastbound on South Loop 289.
During the pursuit, officers were able to call in the vehicle’s information and discovered the vehicle was reported stolen yesterday.
The suspect continued traveling at high speeds on the Loop and exited just after East 50th Street. He lost control of the vehicle, traveled off the road and flipped multiple times before the vehicle came to a stop near East 19th Street.
The suspect was ejected from the car and was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The suspect’s name will be released once next of kin has been notified.
(Press release provided by the Lubbock Police Department)