Texas Officer Killed When Suspect Crashes Vehicle

BEAUMONT, Texas – Beaumont police say they will seek a capital murder charge against a man suspected of intentionally aiming his fleeing sport utility vehicle at the patrol car of an officer who was struck and killed.

Police Chief Frank Coffin said during a news conference early Saturday morning that 36-year-old Officer Bryan Mitchell Hebert (HE'-burt) was retrieving stop sticks from his trunk about 10:45 p.m. Friday when the suspect's 2008 Dodge Nitro struck the patrol car head-on, pushing it into him.

Hebert, who served 10 years with the department, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The unidentified 30-year-old suspect from Beaumont suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Police say he had assaulted his mother and elderly grandmother earlier Friday evening.
KFDM-TV says Hebert was a correctional officer before joining the Beaumont department.