Officials said the suspect was denied a CDL at the Texas DPS office in Brenham a day before he stole the big rig and crashed it.
BRENHAM, Texas — One person was killed and 13 others were injured Friday after a man stole an 18-wheeler and crashed it into a Texas DPS office in Brenham, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The DPS office is located off Highway 290 on the southwest side of Brenham.
DPS officials said Clenard Parker, 42, stole the big rig out of Chappell Hill, which is about 15 minutes away from Brenham. When law enforcement spotted the stolen big rig, they attempted to get Parker to stop but he took off, heading westbound on Highway 290. He made a U-turn and started traveling east on the Highway 290 service road before taking a hard right turn and driving into the front door of the Texas DPS office.
At one point, Parker drove the big rig out of the DPS office and was going to attempt to crash through it again, but he was taken out of the driver’s seat by law enforcement and put in handcuffs.
Texas DPS said Parker went to the Texas DPS office in Brenham on Thursday to try to renew his CDL.
“While he was there, the driver’s license staff advised Parker that he was not eligible to renew his commercial driver’s license,” officials said.
The impact of the crash caused three people to be flown to the hospital. One of them died. Three others were taken by ambulances but have since been released. Eight people were treated on scene and released, DPS said. It’s unknown if these victims were visitors to the office or employees. DPS said that is all under investigation.
This is a criminal investigation that the Texas Rangers are leading.
Parker is facing multiple felony offenses. It’s unknown if he had any weapons on him during the crash. It’s also unknown if he’s been in trouble with law enforcement in the past.
You can hear Rogalski’s report with video of the scene below.
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