Highway 377 pursuit out of Tioga ends near Lake Kiowa; driver charged with DWI, evading

Collinsville police said officers arrested a driver Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, after a pursuit that began with a reckless-driver report on Highway 377 out of Tioga and ended just north of Lake Kiowa. The department said the driver was charged with driving while intoxicated and evading arrest with a vehicle, on a rural Grayson-Cooke corridor used by Collinsville, Tioga, Lake Kiowa and nearby North Texas communities.

According to the department's account, the call described a driver headed north from Tioga. Officers tried to make a traffic stop and the driver fled. More than one agency joined the pursuit before it ended, and police said the arrest followed a DWI investigation.

Texas Penal Code Section 49.04 defines DWI as operating a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. The base offense is a Class B misdemeanor carrying at least 72 hours of confinement unless enhancements apply. Section 38.04 covers evading arrest or detention, which the statute describes as intentionally fleeing from someone the person knows is a peace officer attempting a lawful arrest or detention. Fleeing in a vehicle is one of the statutory factors that can lift the charge above a Class A misdemeanor.

The city's official roster lists J. Cheshire as police chief and P. Marrufo and S. Taylor as officers, and Collinsville's adopted FY 2025-2026 budget sets police line items at roughly $550,000, most of it salaries. Beyond city limits, the Grayson County Sheriff's Office says it is the responding agency for about a third of the county's population, including unincorporated land and three towns with no police department of their own.

The Grayson County Safety and Operations Strategic Plan previously identified crash concerns on the corridor. Working from crash data for 2017 through 2021, the plan flagged moderate-to-high impaired-driving crash hotspots on US 377 near Tioga and recommended a road safety audit of the highway as growth continues. The plan also compared 377 with State Highway 289 and reported that 377 carried more daily traffic in 2020 while 289 logged nearly half as many fatal crashes from 2019 through 2021.

TxDOT counted about 110 DUI-alcohol crashes in Grayson County last year and 50 next door in Cooke County, with 25 of those recorded in Gainesville and one in Tioga. Statewide, the agency reported that crashes involving a driver under the influence of alcohol killed about 900 people in 2025, close to a quarter of all traffic deaths, even as total deaths fell roughly 9 percent from 2024. TxDOT said those crashes came more often in the 2 a.m. hour, and more often on Saturday, than in any other hour or on any other day.

Census Bureau estimates show both Grayson and Cooke counties grew between 2020 and July 2025, to about 154,000 residents and about 44,500. The Grayson County MPO's 2045 plan amendment lists a $10 million bypass around Tioga on FM 121 and an $8.3 million bypass around Collinsville on FM 902.