59-year-old man believed to be responsible for nearly 100 rock throwing incidents in Texas
AUSTIN (KXAN) – An Austin man who bills himself as a “towing compliance expert” is currently in the Travis County Jail accused of being responsible for the “lion’s share” of rock throwing cases along Interstate 35.
Patrick Eugene Johnson, 59, was booked into the jail around 4 a.m. Thursday and charged with attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bond is set at $250,000.
In a news conference announcing the major break in the case, Austin Chief of Police Art Acevedo made it a point that he believes Johnson is the main culprit.
“We’ve had about 94 cases involving this series of events, and by the time we’re done putting together our case, we believe he’s responsible or the lion’s share of the cases.”
Since June 2014, Acevedo says there have been 94 reported cases of rock throwing along I-35. After a new spree of rock throwing cases surfaced in May, the Austin Police Department moved all the rock cases over to the Organized Crime Division, with an effort to get new eyes on the investigation.
While most of the victims only received vehicle damage, three people were severely injured. One of the very first victims, Kenneth Johnson [no relation] suffered severe head trauma when a rock blasted through his windshield and hit him. Acevedo says he is confident they will charge Johnson with attempted murder in Kenneth’s case.
Police say they have also arrested two other individuals accused of throwing rocks over the bridges but he believes they are only responsible for a few, not the bulk of the cases. Acevedo says he has a message for future copycats: “If you want to be a cell mate, block mate, go ahead and continue with your copycat. The technology and methods we are deploying, we will catch you and I am confident we will be making an additional arrest of at least one copycat here in the near future.”
Needle in a Haystack
Acevedo says once the Organized Crime Division was focused on the case, the detectives poured over all the data and 911 calls and realized there was a pattern: Johnson. Police say he called 911 numerous times to report cases as well as being in the vicinity where attacks were reported.
“After committing his crimes, his cowardly crimes, he came back to the scene acting as a Good Samaritan, acting as a witness,” says Acevedo of Johnson’s modus operandi.
Even though Johnson’s name was in the mix of possible suspects, police said a dash camera video from patrol car helped the process along.
According to an arrest affidavit, a University of Texas at Austin police officer was driving northbound on I-35 approaching East 51st Street around 2:34 a.m. on May 14, 2016 when he saw an “object projected from the southbound traffic lanes.” The officer said while the object didn’t hit his patrol car, he did run over it. The officer did activate his dash camera and was able to capture video a suspect vehicle traveling “by itself and was the only candidate source for the rock.” While the video was captured on
While the incident happened on May 14, the UTPD officer didn’t immediately report it to his supervisor because the patrol car didn’t sustain any damage. Once the chief at UTPD sent out an email to his staff on June 10, 2016 about the rock throwing cases, the officer then brought the video to his attention.
After reviewing the video, police say they were able to link the suspect vehicle to Johnson’s vehicle. The court records go on to say Johnson called 911 to report something in the roadway approximately 16 minutes after the UTPD rock throwing case.
On Wednesday, June 15, detectives interviewed Johnson and his roommate were brought in for questioning. According to the affidavit, Johnson admitted to throwing rocks from his vehicle on I-35. When pressed for locations, Johnson only mentioned two cases. Johnson’s roommate admitted to police he was in the vehicle at the time of the May 14 case and “witnessed on at least two separate incidents Johnson throw a rock out of his vehicle towards vehicles” on I-35.
Who is Pat Johnson?
Johnson is the founder of Texas Towing Compliance, a watchdog organization focused on towing and booting incidents, according to the website.
In 2013, Johnson was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child when a 15-year-old male victim reported to authorities about ongoing sexual abuse that had been occurring with Johnson. The victim told police the abuse occurred approximately 50 to 100 times between the ages of 13-15 years old. The case is still going through the judicial system.
According to KXAN email records, Johnson has emailed the station numerous times over the past two years about rock throwing cases and how the Austin Police Department is handling the investigation. On May 28, 2016, Johnson emailed KXAN at 7:02 a.m. with a photograph attached of a truck that was hit by a rock that happened just a few minutes prior.
