Maneuver prevents pursuit

San Marcos Police successfully avoided what could have become a dangerous high-speed pursuit early Wednesday even though the suspect took steps to make that task more difficult.

Officers responded to a report of an aggravated assault at 201 Telluride around 3 a.m. 

Police said Marcos Roman Sarabia, 27, displayed a handgun during an assault on a woman described as an ex-girlfriend, then tried to leave the scene before officers arrived.

In an email routed through City Hall, Commander Kelly Bomersbach said Sarabia was trying to get to the interstate and when he left the apartment complex parking lot, had “blacked out,” meaning he turned off his headlights, in order to escape police detection.

It didn’t work, however. An officer spotted the vehicle and a Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT) maneuver was performed to stop Sarabia. The PIT is a tactic by which police force a suspect’s vehicle to turn sideways, causing the driver to lose control.

Sarabia’s visit to the woman who was assaulted — police said she wasn’t physically injured — also violated a protective order someone in the residence had secured against him, though that person wasn’t named or their relationship with him explained.

In all, he is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon/family violence, a first degree felony, evading arrest/detention with a vehicle, which is a third degree felony, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, a third degree felony, and the misdemeanor of unlawfully carrying a weapon and the protective order violation. He is being held in Hays County Jail under bonds totaling $90,000.