A Laredo man ran from the back of a police car on Sunday. He was still in handcuffs. Cops found him a short time later. He was hiding in a creek.

The chase started after cops arrested him. They say he hurt a pregnant woman. Stories like this matter to South Texas families. A family fight can turn into a manhunt fast. It shows how Laredo police handle both family violence calls and risky escapes on the border.

Laredo police got a call about a family fight. It happened on the 3300 block of Monterrey Avenue. The call came in Sunday at 3:21 p.m. Cops got there and arrested Frederick Garcia, 22. Police say he hit a pregnant woman. Cops put cuffs on Garcia. They put him in the back of a marked patrol car. Cops arrested him without a problem.

But the case did not end there. Officers stayed outside the patrol car. They talked to the victim and to witnesses at the scene. That is when police say Garcia popped open the patrol car door. He took off running. He was still in cuffs. Getting away in handcuffs is hard. Garcia still tried.

Cops chased him on foot through the neighborhood. Cops found him hiding in a creek. It was near San Francisco Avenue and Frankfort Street. That spot is just blocks from where the arrest started.

Garcia now faces a felony charge. It is assault family violence. That charge is a third-degree felony. It can mean 2 to 10 years in prison. He also got two more charges for the escape. One is escape from custody. That is a Class A charge. It can mean up to a year in jail. The other is criminal mischief. That is a Class B charge. It can mean up to 180 days in jail. These are just charges right now. Garcia has not been convicted of anything. Under the law he is presumed not guilty until a court says otherwise.

Jail records show this is not Garcia's first arrest. In 2025 he was booked for choking a family member during a fight. That charge involved cutting off someone's air during an assault. In 2026 he was arrested again. That arrest was for breaking a bond tied to an assault or stalking case. He also has two pot arrests, in 2024 and 2025. In April 2026 cops arrested him one more time. That arrest was for having a small amount of drugs and for fighting arrest.

Family fights happen a lot across South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. Local cops handle these calls all the time. Most end with a quiet arrest and a trip to jail. But a suspect running from cops