Update – Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2:45 p.m. Central: The yet unidentified truck driver involved in what ended up being a five-hour standoff with police did not actually threaten police officers with a machete, contrary to earlier reports from media outlets. Mississippi Highway Patrol Master Sgt. Chase Elkins said in a press conference the machete report stemmed from Jackson County Sheriff deputies seeing a machete in the truck when they first pulled the trucker over before he led them on a chase.
Elkins said when the truck driver stopped near milemarker 59 on I-10 Westbound, he communicated over the phone with the sheriff’s department for five hours before surrendering on his own without injury.
The incident began with a road rage incident between two truck drivers, Elkins said, and the truck driver who led police on a pursuit hit three other vehicles before stopping. There were no injuries from these collisions, Elkins added. Police used non-lethal gas and smoke to get the driver out of his truck.
I-10 is now fully open in both directions.
Update – Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2 p.m. Central: The Mississippi Highway Patrol reports the truck driver involved in the standoff with police has been safely taken into custody. The Mississippi Department of Transportation reports the left lane of I-10 Eastbound at milemarker 61 is blocked, while the right lane on the westbound side is still blocked.
Driver is in custody! No injuries!
— MHP BILOXI (@MHPTroopK) January 30, 2019
