Deputy and woman injured after traffic stop in North Sacramento leads to high-speed chase
A deputy and a woman were injured Wednesday after a man sped away from a traffic stop in the North Sacramento area and crashed into another vehicle about a mile away, sheriff’s officials said.
The incident began about noon where the traffic stop occurred in the area of Albatross Way and El Camino Plaza Drive in the Swanston Estates neighborhood of the city.
Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said deputies from the sheriff’s North Problem Oriented Policing team pulled over a vehicle for a relatively minor traffic violation. He said the 30-year-old man driving the vehicle was initially detained because of warrants for his arrest, but he likely would’ve been released later without spending a night in jail.
The vehicle he was driving had not been reported stolen, and there were no weapons later found in the vehicle, the sheriff’s spokesman said.
“This could’ve been as easy as a traffic ticket, and everybody goes about their day,” Gandhi said.
The motorist instead pushed away deputies trying to handcuff him, got back in his vehicle and drove away, clipping a deputy with the fleeing vehicle in the process, Gandhi said. The deputy was knocked to the ground and suffered “relatively minor injuries,” Gandhi said.
A vehicle pursuit ensued. Gandhi said the fleeing vehicle headed west, reaching excessive speeds during the chase.
The pursuit ended at the intersection of Clay Street and Frienza Avenue, near the Bethel Slavic Baptist Church, in the South Hagginwood neighborhood. The intersection is a block west of a road construction site along Taft Street in front of Northwood Elementary School.
Gandhi said the fleeing vehicle crashed into another vehicle in the intersection, before the man trying to evade authorities got out and ran from the vehicles. Authorities caught up to him a short time later and took him into custody. Gandhi said the man taken into custody was not injured.
He was booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail after being arrested on suspicion of assault on a peace officer, resisting officers, evading police while driving in a reckless manner, evading officers while driving on wrong side of the road and driving with a suspended or revoked license. He was being held without bail.
The other driver involved in the crash, a woman who was in her vehicle alone, suffered what appeared to be minor injuries in the crash and was “obviously very shaken up,” Gandhi said.
When asked by reporters about the decision to chase this fleeing vehicle, the sheriff’s spokesman said deputies would “not shy away from” engaging in a pursuit while considering public safety when the chase enters neighborhoods.
“Our deputies executed everything safely,” Gandhi said. “Put the blame on him. He was the one who hit her; not us.”
The fleeing vehicle had front-end damage, nobody else was in the vehicle. Gandhi said the woman’s vehicle also had some extensive damage.
Gandhi said he did not know whether the woman’s vehicle was stopped when the crash occurred or if her vehicle was moving into the intersection at the time. Sacramento Police Department officers investigated the crash, since it occurred in their jurisdiction.
“If they stop we don’t have to chase them. And if it’s a relatively minor crime, they might leave with a ticket,” Gandhi said. “We’re going to chase them if they run. We’re not stopping them for no reason. We want to make contact with them, we need to find out what they’re running for.”
