A Texas man is behind bars after he allegedly kidnapped his wife, who escaped him and drove off in his car — with him on the hood.
Brownsville police said they were called at 7:13 a.m. on Saturday about a kidnapping in progress in which Martin Severiano Vela, 37, had come into a home, where his wife was at the time, and forcefully taken her at gunpoint out to his car.
“In the course of the kidnapping, Vela pointed the gun at the homeowners and told them to get away,” police said.
Ten minutes later, dispatchers received another call, this one saying the car — a Chrysler 300 — was at a convenience store with a man on the hood and woman inside the car screaming.
But the time police arrived, the suspect had driven off in the car, but the victim was still at the convenience store. Shortly afterward, Texas Department of Public Safety officers located the Chrysler 300 driving recklessly and initiated a pursuit. Brownsville officers joined the pursuit. Vela crashed the car and hid in a shed, where officers took him into custody.
The victim in the ordeal told officers that after he put her into his car, he drove to an abandoned property where he told her he was going to hurt her. Bu when he got out of the car, she jumped into the driver’s seat and took off. Vela jumped onto the hood, she said, where he stayed until she pulled into the convenience store. When she got out of the car, he got back behind the wheel and drove away.
Vela has now been charged with aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon, burglary of habitation, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, driving while intoxicated (with three previously convictions), evading arrest, reckless driving, giving false information and failing to identify himself, and other charges.
He is being held on a $212,000 bond and has active warrants in another jurisdiction.
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[Featured image: Martin Severiano Vela/Brownsville Police Department]
