Driver arrested after 2-hour slow-speed chase through Dallas County

The driver of a stolen SUV finally stopped and gave up after a long, low-speed chase in Dallas County.

The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office said deputies tried to pull a white Tahoe over in West Dallas just after midnight Tuesday. The vehicle had been reported stolen from a Richardson hotel parking lot.

Spike strips deflated the SUV’s tires, but the chase continued at speeds of about 10 miles per hour for more than two hours. It rolled through Downtown Dallas and into Pleasant Grove where the driver finally stopped.

Deputies quickly took Javier Salinas into custody near the intersection of Lake June and Jim Miller roads. He’s facing charges for felony evading arrest and the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Eneyda Gomez Rayo says it was her SUV that was all over the news, being driven and destroyed by a suspected car thief.

"I need for him to pay with jail time all the damage and pain he caused me because it's been 3 days that I've been living with anguish, thinking about my car that's my only form of transportation,” she said.

The SUV was stolen last Saturday. Rayo says she went to work at 5 a.m. am, and when she left to go home, it was gone.

"Honestly, it made me really happy because they caught him,” Rayo admitted. “He's going to jail and he's going to pay for what he did to me."

Rayo says she’s relieved to get her car back but has no idea what condition the smoking, reckless criminal left it in.

Police say Salinas has a criminal history of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, family violence and theft.

A woman who jumped out of the passenger seat during the chase was questioned but was later released.