A convicted felon has allegedly rammed a stolen 18-wheeler into a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) office, killing one person and injuring 13 after he was denied renewal of his commercial driver’s license the previous day.
The incident occurred on Friday morning at the DPS office in Brenham, Texas, after a sheriff’s deputy pursued a truck that had been reported stolen. The driver, identified as 42-year-old Clenard Parker, made a “hard right turn” and crashed into the entrance of the licensing office, DPS spokesman Sergeant Justin Ruiz told reporters.
All 14 people who were in the building at the time were hurt. Six of the victims were taken to area hospitals, including one who later died, and eight were treated at the scene. Ruiz said Parker came to the same office on Thursday and was told that he wasn’t eligible to have his truck driver’s license renewed.
Brenham is located about 80 miles west of Houston. The town’s mayor, Atwood Kenjura, said the casualties would have been far worse if law enforcement officers hadn’t quickly dragged the driver out of the stolen truck as he was backing it up to ram the building again. “Our fire chief mentioned that if he had veered a little bit to the left the second time, there would have been a collapse of that building, which would have resulted in a lot more injuries and possible death.”
Parker reportedly has a criminal record dating back to 1999, including felony and misdemeanor convictions. He has previously been charged with illegal weapons possession and tampering with a government record.