Dallas County Truck Chase

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A man accused of carjacking an 18-wheeler and holding the driver hostage for four hours faces an additional charge in the police chase that ended after officers shot the vehicle's radiator and tires and fired tear gas into the cab.

Samuel Scott Jones, 32, of Dallas, remained in the Collin County jail Monday on the charge of aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon and the new charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sheriff's Lt. John Norton said. Bond was set at $250,000 on each charge, and an attorney has not been appointed for Jones, state District Judge Paul Raleeh said.

The driver and her dog ran to safety after the standoff, which followed a 3-hour police chase through three counties. It began about 4:20 p.m. Sunday in Collin County, north of Dallas, when a man called police to say that his wife had been carjacked.

Norton identified the woman who was kidnapped as Christie K. Bundren, 51, of Allen. She was reunited with family members at the sheriff's department late Sunday.

"It just scared me to death," Bundren said as she tearfully hugged family members outside the department.

A man who answered the door Monday at an address listed for her in Allen said she declined to comment further.

Dallas police Lt. Rick Watson said the suspect ordered a man out of the truck before driving off with the woman.

The chase wound along tollways, through downtown and residential sections of Dallas and onto Interstate 20 toward Fort Worth.

At one point towards the end of the chase, the man asked to speak by telephone with a reporter from WFAA-TV (Channel 8). Samuel Scott Jones

"I don't think this is going to end peacefully because black men are targets anyway," he told reporter Rebecca Lopez. Asked to explain, he said, "African-American men have Xs on their backs. They are targets of the government. The cops are going to hurt me either way."

Department of Public Safety troopers pulled alongside the truck, and a trooper used a rifle to fire at the radiator and tires, forcing the vehicle to a stop on the western edge of Fort Worth. The suspect surrendered about an hour later, after the tear gas was fired into the cab.

The man may also have been involved in two other carjackings prior to the chase, police said.

A man fitting the suspect's description carjacked a Lexus just before 3 p.m., said Carrollton police Sgt. Patrick Murphy. The man reportedly pointed a gun at someone who tried to help the victim.

"Within 10 minutes that Lexus was wrecked just north of our city in Denton County," Murphy said.

Dr. Joseph Surdacki, a Plano pulmonologist, was driving in his black Infiniti to get a sandwich when he saw a man standing near the vehicle in a ditch along the road.

He pulled over, rolled down his window and asked the man whether he was all right. An automatic handgun, the doctor recalled, was quickly pointed at his head. Should police engage in highway pursuits, and are they worthy of news coverage? Share your thoughts. Comment | View Results

"Of course, with that kind of motivation, you get out," Dr. Surdacki said.

The carjacker, police believe, drove the doctor's Infiniti to the Collin County town of Fairview, where he stopped at the Pride Fuel Stop.

The man then filled up the car at a truck stop near Fairview in Collin County, but could not get the vehicle to start. He then took the tractor-trailer, police said.

Collin County authorities said late Sunday they were not certain who was in the truck with the woman when she was kidnapped. Collin County authorities initially told Dallas police that the woman and her husband were in the truck.

But her estranged husband, Larry Bundren, told radio station KRLD that he watched the chase on television.

"I'm glad Christie made it out OK. I'm very proud of her," Larry Bundren said.

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