Fort Worth police chief jumps fences in pursuit of fleeing suspect

By Emerson Clarridge
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH, Texas — Commanding a large police department often involves administrative tasks more than personal crime-fighting.

On Friday, though, Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus got a taste of the action.

Kraus was driving down a freeway and heard police radio traffic related to a search nearby for a man who had run from a vehicle crash near Interstate 20 and Campus Drive.

Officers on the ground and in a helicopter were looking for the suspect at about 10:30 a.m. when Kraus joined the hunt, the department said.

Jesus Martinez Guerrero, 28, ended up running toward the 52-year-old chief. When he saw a police officer, the suspect turned and ran the other way.

Both men jumped over two fences during the chase.

As Kraus closed in, Martinez Guerrero slowed to a walk, then dropped to the ground, and the chief handcuffed him. Guerrero was booked on suspicion of evading arrest.

“I am just 1 of 1,700 officers who do this kind of work every day,” Kraus, who became a Fort Worth police officer in 1992, wrote in a statement.

Kraus was named chief earlier this month after a six-month period as the department’s interim head.