Big Rig Rams 20 Cars During Chase; Trucker Held

A trucker rammed his tractor-trailer into more than 20 cars, seriously injuring at least two people, during an 80-mile chase Friday that snarled San Antonio rush-hour traffic, authorities said.

Stephen Odell Dillard, 41, of Coolidge, Ga., was charged with possession of cocaine and was held in the Medina County Jail here under $50,000 bond while authorities in other counties prepared other charges, officials said.

The chase began shortly after 8 a.m. on Interstate 10 near Comfort, about 40 miles northwest of San Antonio, state trooper Alvin Schacht said. The rig, carrying vegetables from California to Florida, sideswiped a vehicle driven by lawyer Robert Etlinger, who was run off the road but then pursued the fleeing truck, Schacht said.

The trucker “was running between 85 and 90 and he (Etlinger) couldn’t catch him,” Schacht said.

“He took the whole back end of my station wagon,” said Donald Kite, who was driving to work in San Antonio when he saw the truck come up behind him. “All of sudden, there was a ka-wham! and I almost started going back under his trailer,” he said.

Troopers, police and at least one other driver also pursued the tractor-trailer before it finally stopped at an Interstate 35 rest area near Natalia, southwest of San Antonio.

The driver got out of the cab and citizens surrounded him until officers arrived to make the arrest.

“He didn’t say anything,” said Lytle Police Chief Leo Thormann, the first officer to arrive. “To me he didn’t appear that he knew that anything had happened. He was very calm, very cooperative.”

Troopers said they found 4 to 5 grams of cocaine in the cab, and that narcotics officers planned to search the cargo.