1 dead after driver rammed stolen semitruck into driver’s license office

A driver crashed a stolen semitruck into a Texas public safety office that housed a driver’s license center Friday morning, leaving one person dead and others injured, law enforcement said. 

Clenard Parker, 42, of Chappell Hill is accused of stealing the truck and intentionally ramming it into a driver’s license office in Brenham, a city nearly halfway between Austin and Houston. Parker had been denied his CDL on Thursday, officials said at a news conference Friday afternoon. It is unclear why he was denied a CDL or the origin of the stolen truck. 

Law enforcement was pursuing Parker when he rammed the vehicle into the building, crashing into the waiting and office area and injuring 13 people and killing one person, said Texas Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Ruiz. The victims weren’t identified. 

Parker had reversed the truck and planned to crash into the building again when he was apprehended by law enforcement, Brenham Mayor Atwood Kenjura said. Kenjura said officials told him that if the driver had slammed into the building from a different angle, it would have collapsed the office.