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A 44-year-old Port Arthur man who reportedly led police on several chases and escaped while handcuffed was indicted for evading arrest with a vehicle in December, then two counts of escaping while arrested for incidents in January.

According to court documents, Juan Luis Diaz was in a truck on Bluebonnet Boulevard Dec. 18 when an officer noted his registration expired.

Officers caught up to the vehicle on Marshall Avenue, where a woman got out of the vehicle and Diaz was asked to put the truck in park. He allegedly accelerated and turned onto Gulfway Drive.

Port Arthur police, with emergency lights and sirens activated, pursued the truck down several roads at a high rate of speed. Diaz reportedly turned his lights off and, when he got to the intersection of Rosedale and Lewis Drive, lost control of the truck going into a residential yard and striking several parked cars.

From there, police said he got out and fled on foot and was not immediately apprehended.

Less than a month later on Jan. 14 police tried to stop a motorcyclist that ran a stop sign and failed to use a turn signal in the 1400 block of 13th Street, according to court documents.

The driver, identified as Diaz, fled from police then got off the motorcycle in the 3700 block of 8th Street and took off running. He was caught and brought to the Medical Center of Southeast Texas for clearance.

Once cleared, an officer was placing the man in the back of the police unit when he began running while still handcuffed. A Taser was deployed to stop the man. He was then placed in the police unit en route to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility.

While on the way to the jail, Diaz allegedly tried to bribe the officer, saying he would give him $25,000 to let him go, to which the officer said no.

Diaz was able to place his handcuffs in front of him and opened the back door of the patrol car, where he ran behind a convenience store.

Other officers came to assist and he was placed back in the back seat of the police unit again and brought to the jail.

As of Friday Diaz was still in the county jail on three charges of evading detention with a motor vehicle with bonds at $150,000 each, two counts of felony escape with bonds at $150,000 each and one count of bribery with bond at $150,000. He also has a drug possession charge with no bond and a parole violation, according to information from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.