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Truck Driver Wanted In Wild Berks County Chase In Police Custody

CAERNARVON Twp., Pa. (CBS) -- A driver who was the subject of a manhunt following a police chase in a tractor trailer in Berks County Thursday is now in police custody.

Harold Augustus Davis, Jr., was taken into custody early Friday morning in New Morgan Township, Berks County.

Investigators say Davis Jr. led Pennsylvania State Troopers on a wild chase along I-176 through Berks County Thursday morning.

At one point during the chase, a Pennsylvania State Trooper was hanging onto the tractor trailer trying to shoot out the tires as the suspect was driving down the highway.

The 56-year-old Davis, from Philadelphia, is wanted in Florida for a robbery, and police there consider him armed and dangerous.

Police say Davis led them on a slow-speed chase northbound on I-176 in Caernarvon Township, Berks County as a trooper was hanging on to the cab of his flatbed car carrier.

"He was somewhere on top of the saddle tank holding onto the grab bar, that would be just behind the driver's door to get in the truck," Trooper David Beohm of Pennsylvania State Police said.

(Quinones:) And he's shooting at the tires with the other hand?

"And he's shooting at the tires, yes, would have to be with his left hand," Beohm said.

The 20 mile per hour chase lasted about three miles.

"A Caernarvon officer gets in front of the truck ... maybe hoping he'll push to the side of the road. Well he rams him," Beohm said.

Finally the tractor trailer crashed into a guardrail.

The manhunt began when police say Davis darted out of the passenger side and ran into the woods just after 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

This whole ordeal began, police contend, after Davis started driving away from a highway inspection station where police had learned he was wanted on a warrant.

Throughout the evening, police talked with Davis on his cell phone.

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