By Shawn Henry 
A stolen 2022 Nissan Altima ended smashed into a rock wall in Northeast El Paso after a police chase, a violent outcome that underscores the ongoing failure to curb car theft and the danger it creates for everyone on the road.
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Police arrested 20-year-old Anzell Kyshone Coleman after pulling him from the wrecked vehicle through a broken window on Apollo Avenue. He faces felony charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and evading arrest and remained held on a $50,000 bond at the El Paso County Jail Annex as of Feb. 3.
The car had been reported stolen hours earlier from New Mexico State University. The owner discovered it missing Thursday morning after losing the key fob the night before. The vehicle had been parked outside a dorm on Center Drive in Las Cruces and was last seen around 10 p.m.
Later that afternoon, El Paso police officers spotted the stolen Altima using a license plate reader while stopped at a traffic light on Hercules Avenue near Dyer Street. The car continued northbound before turning into nearby streets, where officers attempted a traffic stop.
The driver refused to pull over and sped through a residential area, running a stop sign and weaving through neighborhood roads. At one point, he attempted to bail out of the moving vehicle but failed and kept driving.
The pursuit ended when the Altima barreled down Pandora Street at high speed and slammed head-on through a rock wall on Apollo Avenue near Fort Bliss property.
This crash wasn’t just reckless driving. It exposed how easily modern vehicles are still stolen and turned into high-speed threats. Keyless systems and convenience-driven design trends continue to create vulnerabilities that criminals exploit, while the public absorbs the risk.
Residents, pedestrians, and officers were forced into a dangerous situation because a stolen car became a weapon on neighborhood streets.
The auto industry has spent years promoting convenience and connectivity while theft prevention lags behind. The result is predictable: more stolen vehicles, more chases, and more violent crashes when drivers refuse to stop.
This wasn’t a rare incident. It was the kind of outcome that keeps repeating — theft, flight, impact, and arrest — while the underlying problems remain unaddressed.
Now another wrecked vehicle and another criminal case are forcing attention back onto a system that still allows stolen cars to move freely until something breaks, someone gets hurt, or a wall finally stops them.
John