Man Crashes Vehicle into Fence, Runs onto Elementary School Campus
Photo: Carlo Ruben Chavez
On the morning of September 13th, 37-year old Carlos Ruben Chavez was observed driving recklessly by a Tulare County Sheriff’s deputy.
The deputy changed directions to follow Chavez, who then crashed into a moving vehicle on Morrison Street near Bardsley in Tulare, and sped off.
The deputy signaled for Chavez to pull over at which point Chavez crashed again, this time into a fence separating Alpine Vista Elementary and a residential neighborhood. Chavez then took off on foot toward Alpine Elementary.
Dispatch began receiving calls that a man armed with a gun was running through the elementary campus. Alpine Elementary and Mission Oaks High School were placed on lockdown as the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and the Tulare Police Department dispatched their drones to find Chavez.
Chavez was located in the backyard of a residential home on the 2500 block of East Kaiser Creek Avenue. He was arrested and booked into the Adult Pre-Trial Facility in Visalia.
Officers looked for the weapon on the schools’ campuses and close by neighborhoods but did not find one. However, the vehicle Chavez crashed was discovered to have been stolen from the Porterville area. Chaves faces charges of hit and run, stolen vehicle, and evading officers.
