San Marcos police are charging a 25-year-old man with burglary of a building and with evading police after he drove his Pontiac through the bank’s glass front doors around 4 a.m. Friday.
Elias Mercado is accused of plowing through the lobby of the Bank of America at 308 E. Hopkins, driving over furniture and through at least one wall. In the midst of the escapade Mercado lost one of his car’s license plates.
When San Marcos police arrived Mercado had already left the scene.
An officer followed a trail of glass and debris and caught up with Mercado in his car, but he refused to stop.
The officer, in a slow-speed chase, used a PIT maneuver to get Mercado to stop.
“We're still trying to determine if any property was taken at the time, but making entry into the building, what his motivations were,” said Commander Penny Dunn with San Marcos Police to KVUE Friday.
No one from Mercado’s family was willing to speak on camera, but one relative told KVUE that this behavior was out of character for the 25-year-old.
KVUE learned that there is surveillance video from the bank, however police are not releasing at this time until their investigation is finished.
