Lakeway PD looking for man who rammed into police cruiser, hit officer

LAKEWAY, Texas – Lakeway police are looking for a man who rammed into a police cruiser and backed into an officer standing outside of one. Investigators believe the suspect is in the North Austin area.

On Monday morning, Lakeway PD received a report about a suspicious incident in the Rough Hollow area that happened the day before. Lakeway Police Department Sergeant Jason Brown said a vehicle approached some children playing in the neighborhood and the driver asked them questions about phones and social media.

“So obviously the kids kind of freaked out and ran home, so the parents initially thought, oh my gosh somebody’s trying to abduct my children, but it turns out, our investigation revealed he was not attempting to abduct anybody, he was actually looking for an acquaintance in the area,” Sgt. Brown said.

During the investigation of that incident, Sgt. Brown said they found out the vehicle the man was driving was reported stolen out of Austin. That night, they received a tip that the vehicle was back in the Rough Hollow area. When officers arrived, the driver fled.

“When the suspect fled initially, the officers gave pursuit, they ended up in a cul-de-sac and so the vehicle ended up coming back towards the officers so that’s at the point that the suspect crashed into the patrol vehicles. The officers thought he may bail out on foot, so they got out of their vehicle and attempted to apprehend him, that’s when the suspect backed into the officer on foot and continued to flee,” Sgt. Brown said.

The other officer continued the chase, but eventually lost control of their vehicle and lost the suspect. The suspect was last seen traveling towards Highway 71.

Lakeway PD is now looking for a 2015 gray four door Volkswagen Passat with a temporary tag of 1899P16 likely in the North Austin area. Sgt. Brown said you should see damage on the front.

Lakeway PD said the suspect is a white or Hispanic male, late teens, or early twenties with short, curly black hair.

The suspect is facing charges of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a law enforcement officer and felony evading in a motor vehicle.

“Most of the time when we see vehicles get hit it’s during like a traffic stop or an accident investigation where somebody’s driving and not paying attention, and they hit a vehicle. It’s rare that a suspect, in Lakeway at least, where a suspect will intentionally strike a vehicle,” Sgt. Brown said.

Lakeway PD said the officer who was hit was taken to the hospital but is okay. If you have any information to help in this investigation, call the Lakeway Police Department at 512-261-2800.