Houston police on Tuesday identified the man who allegedly stole a police car after trying to carjack a news van on his 29th birthday.
Alex Allen Jenkins was booked on suspicion of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and two counts of assault of a peace officer, a Houston police spokesperson said.
Jenkins was caught by University of Houston police on Monday — his birthday — about 6 ½ hours after his alleged crime spree began near Minute Maid Park, authorities said.
The suspect crashed into a news van of NBC affiliate KPRC at about 4:40 a.m., the station and police said. As he was demanding the live truck, two Houston police officers rolled up and tried to stop him, officials said.
That’s when Jenkins allegedly pushed one of the police officers to the ground and then threw the other one out of the car, before taking off with their cruiser that he ditched four miles away, officials said.