DALLAS (AP) - Police arrested the driver of a flaming lumber truck Wednesday after chasing the stolen rig for more than 90 minutes as it careened across highways and through neighborhoods.
At one point, a police officer fired shots at the cab of the tractor-trailer as it slowed. But the truck pulled away.
Several officers finally pulled the driver out after the truck stopped near a bridge where traffic was restricted by construction.
The driver, who was not identified because formal charges had not been filed, was treated at a hospital and released into police custody. A child on a school bus suffered minor injuries after a loose board struck the bus, but the child did not require medical treatment, police said.
No other injuries were reported during the chase that took a circuitous route through the nation's ninth-largest city, home to 1.2 million residents.
The chase began shortly after police responded to an aggravated robbery call in south Dallas, police spokeswoman Diana Watts said.
Officers saw the owner of the truck hanging off the back of the rig as it was being stolen. The owner fell off, but he didn't appear to be seriously injured, Watts said.
During the chase, flames and thick black smoke erupted from the truck, which was loaded with a forklift, plastic piping, wood and other construction materials. It was unclear how the fire started, Watts said.
``He had enough time to draw a crowd. When he came by he waved, he yelled, he was honking his horn,'' witness Jorge Villarreal told KDFW-TV.
The chase was covered live nationally for nearly 40 minutes on CNN and Fox News Channel.
The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) is investigating whether television stations in the Dallas area violated restrictions on news helicopters, which have been banned from operating within a 22-mile radius from the nation's largest airports as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Pilots violating the rules risk losing their licenses
