APD: Man arrested after intentionally trying to run over people with SUV in East Austin
AUSTIN, Texas - A man behind bars is accused of trying to intentionally run over almost a dozen people in East Austin.
According to court documents, victims believe 34-year-old Ruben Torres tried to kill them.
Wooden boards covering the doors of Speedy Stop in East Austin are a constant reminder of what happened there just over one week ago. Police say the gas station was one of several locations to be targeted by a vehicle caught on camera by a nearby car wash.
"I've never, ever seen something like that or heard something like that go on in this neighborhood," said Benjamin Sides, an employee at King of the Road Car Wash.
The video caught the driver of the SUV hitting the back of a pickup outside the car wash and then ramming into the driver on April 24.
"That was definitely intentional. I mean, when I ran [the footage] back, it was like he literally backed up and positioned himself to run into him," said Sides.
Austin police identified the driver of that white SUV as Ruben Torres saying he intentionally tried to hit about 10 people with his car. The Speedy Stop was his first target.
New court documents reveal Torres was actually arrested at the Speedy Stop one day before his rampage for locking an employee out of the store and threatening to kill people.
Torres returned to the gas station asking the same employee, "Do you remember me?" before trying to run over him twice with his car and then ramming his vehicle into the front of the store.
Police say Torres ended up driving around East Austin at four known locations in a five-mile radius trying to hit people with his car including a neighborhood on Corona Dr., Capital Plaza, and the King of the Road Car Wash.
APD says around 10 people were hit or almost hit by Torres.
"You've got to stop the suspect because, you know, if you don't, he's going to injure or kill somebody," said Wayne Vincent, Retired Austin Police Association President.
Footage shows Torres in his SUV being chased by four police vehicles before finally being stopped with a pit maneuver to disable the vehicle.
"It's an on purpose collision with the target vehicle designed to knock the vehicle into a spin to lose control, so it is considered deadly force. In this case, deadly force was justified because there were several citizens in imminent danger of being killed," said Vincent.
Torres remains behind bars charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.