AUSTIN -- A pickup truck carrying a number of people who appeared to be trying to hide led police on a chase that ended in Southeast Austin Tuesday morning when the driver abandoned the truck and fled.

It began around 11:30 a.m. on Interstate 35 when Austin police noticed the Dodge truck had people laying down in the bed. Officers tried to pull over the truck, which was stolen, and the truck took off.

When the truck ran a red light, Austin police say they backed off.

"It is very, very dangerous to have those kind of speeds and to have people in the bed of a pickup," said Lt. Norris McKenzie, APD Organized Crime Division. "Anytime an officer or supervisor thinks [a] pursuit is too dangerous than it needs to be -- or we endanger the people on the back -- we terminate it."

The truck jumped the curb and stopped at a dead-end on Pleasant Valley Road near Oltorf.

The driver and three others fled, but seven people who had been riding in the truck remained behind. They told officers that they rode in the bed of the truck hiding all the way from Laredo. The immigrants are being treated as victims.

"We talked to them provided them with water and asked them if they needed medical treatment, but they seem to be in pretty good health right now," Norris said.

Police used a helicopter and combed nearby wooded areas in their search for the driver.

Some nearby residents got a little nervous during the search. However Deborah Yarbough says the cops made her feel safe.

"If they try to get into somebody’s apartment they know they are going to get caught -- and they are trying their best not to get caught -- so they ain't (sic) trying to get into nobody’s house," Yarbough said.

Human smuggling investigators with APD are looking into the incident.

The driver -- who police say could be a coyote -- is described as a Hispanic male, heavy set in his late 30's or 40's, weighing 220 to 240 pounds, and wearing jeans and a black shirt.