Galveston-area cop in critical but stable condition after high-speed chase collision

A Galveston-area police officer is in critical but stable condition Thursday after a man in a high-speed chase struck the officer’s patrol car, authorities said.

The man in a white Ford truck had eluded capture for “some time” early Thursday, sometimes driving over 100 mph, before the collision, according to a statement from Galveston police. Officers set up near the 16000 block of FM 3005, between Galveston Island State Park and city limits of Jamaica Beach, to “encourage (the driver) to stay in the east bound lanes.”

Instead, the driver “made catastrophic contact with a Jamaica Beach police car, doing extensive damage to the car, lifting it off the ground and throwing it into another otherwise uninvolved vehicle,” according to Galveston police. The officer inside the car suffered multiple injuries and was taken to University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he remains in critical but stable condition.

The driver, who was arrested shortly after the collision, was identified as John Perkins, 41. He is facing a charge of aggravated assault on a public servant from Galveston police, and he will face further charges from Lake Jackson police, the agency that initiated the pursuit.

Perkins is being treated at UTMB for injuries sustained during the incident. Police said he should be booked into the Galveston County Jail this afternoon.

Officers said Perkins had allegedly threatened to kill himself and a passenger. It’s not clear whether there was a passenger in the car at the time of the collision.