San Benito man sentenced for trying to hit FBI agent in stolen truck

A San Benito man was sentenced Wednesday for attempting to hit an FBI agent in a stolen truck at the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville before leading authorities on a 20-minute chase through Cameron County.

U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera sentenced Damian Evans Lopez to a little more than nine years in federal prison for assaulting a federal officer. He pleaded guilty to the charge on Sept. 9.

Lopez was arrested on June 28 when an FBI agent was investigating stolen vehicles being illegally exported into Mexico.

“He identified a stolen Chevrolet truck parked near the Gateway International Bridge Port of Entry in Brownsville and called for assistance,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas Said in a news release.

Motorists pay a bridge toll at Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville Monday, March 6, 2023, to cross into Matamoros, Mexico. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

The agent, who was wearing FBI gear with clear law enforcement markings, approached the truck and asked Lopez to exit.

“Instead, he turned the vehicle’s wheels to exit the parking space and aggressively accelerated directly at the FBI agent,” the release stated. “He managed to jump out of the way of the accelerating vehicle and avoided serious injury and or death by mere inches.”

Lopez then took off and led authorities on a chase involving speeds exceeding 100 mph through the streets of Brownsville and onto the freeway. The chase ended in San Benito and Lopez was arrested.

Olvera, the judge, enhanced Lopez’s sentence for using the truck as a deadly weapon, for reckless endangerment during flight and for official victim adjustments.

“At the hearing, the court heard how Lopez had a history of placing law enforcement and the public in danger given his three prior felony convictions for evading arrest with motor vehicles,” the release stated.

Lopez has remained in custody and will be transferred to a federal prison.

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