Paraplegic man in I-45 chase yells 'shoot me', is shot dead

THE WOODLANDS, Texas –– A paraplegic man led police on a chase early Tuesday morning down Interstate 45 before claiming he had a gun, yelling “shoot me” at officers, and being shot dead.

Bryan Keith Carnes, 44, of Willis, was driving just before 1 a.m. on FM 1097 when a Willis police officer tried to pull him over for running a red light. Carnes sped off in his red pickup truck instead, going onto I-45, said Lt. Daniel Norris with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

Officers saw Carnes throwing something, possibly drugs, out of the truck as he drove, Norris said.

During the chase, Carnes remotely opened and closed the cover on the bed of the pickup truck and moved down a boom with a wheel chair on it over the road, lowering it at times so the wheelchair bounced on the highway. The wheel chair never fell onto the road and stayed attached to the truck.

Conroe police, Shenandoah police, Willis police, Montgomery County deputies and Department of Public Safety troopers chased Carnes and managed to spike his tires, flattening three of his four tires.

Carnes crashed his pickup into a concrete wall on I-45 near Woodlands Parkway and came to a stop. When officers approached him, Carnes is purported to have yelled that he had a gun and said “shoot me” to officers after opening his driver side door. A Montgomery County deputy fired three shots when Carnes tried to reach for something under the driver’s seat. Carnes was hit in the chest and taken to a local hospital where he died.

Justice of the Peace, Pct. 3 Judge Edie Connelly ordered the body sent to the Montgomery County Forensic Center for autopsy. The autopsy is scheduled for late Tuesday.

The chase and shooting saw I-45 backed up almost all morning with traffic.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and the Texas Rangers are working to complete the investigation.

The deputy has been placed on administrative leave as is the case in any officer involved shooting.

KHOU 11 managed to speak to Carnes' son in an interview; read it here.