AUSTIN (KXAN) –  David Earl Bedford Jr., 29, died after evading police officers and crashing into a train in the early morning of Friday, May 12, per the Austin Police Department. 

APD said officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Bedford‘s sedan at the intersection of Neches Street and 7th Street in Downtown Austin at 2:25 a.m. Bedford tried to evade officers and drove at a high speed eastward on E 7th Street.

At the 2300 block of E 7th Street — about 1.5 miles away from where officers tried to pull him over — Bedford’s vehicle crashed into a moving train. Bedford was taken to the hospital, where he later died, per APD. Officers suspect Bedford had been drinking alcohol the night of his death. 

This incident is being investigated as the 35th fatal crash of 2023 in Austin. On the date of this crash in 2022, there had been 37 fatal crashes that resulted in 38 deaths.