Suspect Snatched Officer's Gun Before Being Shot, Killed, Police Say

A police chase that began with a suspicious person call, crossed through three cities and shut down part of a major highway ended after the man driving the car being chased won a struggle with a pursuing police officer for the officer's gun, the Dallas Police Department said late Tuesday.

Just before 4 p.m. Monday, Mesquite police officers answered a call from Towne Centre Drive. They spotted Bobby Blade, 29, who matched the description of a suspicious person given to Mesquite police, according to DPD. Blade, who'd been convicted of misdemeanor theft in 2016 after pleading down from a felony robbery charge, got in his car and sped off.

Three Mesquite officers followed Blade, eventually picking up help from a pair of Garland police officers as the chase continued on Interstate 635.

As the chase approached the Garland-Dallas border, Blade wrecked his car, which rolled over and ended up on its roof. Police say Blade ditched the car and ran into Dallas.

After a brief foot chase, one of the Mesquite officers found Blade along a section of chainlink fence near Samuell-Garland Park. The two began to fight, according to DPD. Eventually, Blade got the better of the Mesquite cop, took the gun and pointed it at the officer. As he did, Dallas police say, the four other cops involved in the chase shot Blade multiple times.

Paramedics took Blade and the officer to Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Blade died from his gunshot wounds, but the Mesquite cop, who suffered several broken bones in his face, according to his Dallas colleagues, has been released to recover at home.

The four other officers involved in the chase were unharmed. Dallas police are continuing the investigation into the shooting, the department said late Tuesday.