College security officer injured during DUI incident www.privateofficer.com

Fulton MO Sept 29 2010 An unexpected late-night chase for a Westminster College security guard led to the arrest of a Fulton man after the guard was the victim of a hit and run early Sunday morning.

At approximately 1:24 a.m., the Fulton Police Department received a report of an accident on West Chestnut and one of the drivers attempting to flee the area, ultimately crashing in the 600 block of Churchill Road.

According to police reports, upon arrival at the scene, officers found Pedro Nunez-Cruz, 25, of Fulton, sitting in the driver’s seat of a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe with heavy driver’s side damage and a broken front axle. They learned Nunez-Cruz had rear ended a vehicle on West Chestnut and fled the area before losing control of his vehicle, striking a telephone pole and a parked truck on Churchill.

The driver of the first vehicle Nunez-Cruz allegedly hit was Westminster security guard Wade Frick, who said he was driving to McDonald’s to get coffee for his fellow security guards when a large, white SUV started following him very closely.

“It was so close I could see the glare of the lights, but not the lights themselves,” Frick said. “I tapped my brakes to warn him to back off a bit, but he didn’t.”

He said he tapped his brakes again, but Nunez-Cruz still did not fall back. When Frick slowed down a third time — this time with the intention of stopping, he said the other driver rear-ended his vehicle.

“I got out of the car to go see what he’d done to the back of my car, and he backed his truck up and came at me,” Frick said. “I put my back up against the car as far as I could; he came by so close, his SUV rubbed against my coat.

“If he had been any closer, I would have been dead.”

The security guard said he then got back into his own vehicle and started following Nunez-Cruz, hoping to get a license number, at the same time contacting the police department on his radio.

“I followed him. He was absolutely flying — it was like watching Cops in real life,” Frick said. “He turned down Churchill and he overcorrected and slammed into a pole. I thought I could block him in so he couldn’t leave, but then he shot across the road and ran into another truck.”

At that point, Frick said he ran over to Nunez-Cruz’s vehicle and stood at the window of the driver’s side door to prevent him from leaving.

“It wasn’t until he heard the cops coming that he stopped trying to go,” he said. “I just felt like, if I hadn’t been there … he would have gone on and done more damage.”

According to the report, Frick was transported to the Callaway County Hospital via ambulance with back and neck injuries. He said Monday that his injuries were not serious, although he is still sore: “I feel like I’m in bootcamp.”

Nunez-Cruz was arrested at the scene and charged with DWI, felony second degree assault, felony property damage, felony leave the scene of an accident involving injuries, careless and imprudent driving involving an accident, no insurance and no operator’s license. He was transported to the Callaway County Jail, where he is being held on $15,500 bond.
Source:Fulton Sun