Chase through Sacramento ends with carjacking suspect in custody outside fast food restaurant
Authorities on Friday chased a vehicle believed to be associated with a reported carjacking, a pursuit that started in downtown Sacramento and made its way onto freeways and through neighborhoods before ending with the suspect in custody outside an East Sacramento fast food restaurant.
Shortly before noon, officers spotted a yellow Nissan pickup truck believed to have been associated with a reported carjacking, according to the Sacramento Police Department.
The vehicle was spotted near Fifth and J streets. Police later confirmed the pickup had been stolen in the reported carjacking earlier Friday. It was unclear to police whether a weapon was used in the crime. Officers were still at the scene where the suspect was apprehended.
The vehicle pursuit ensued and traveled onto the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 before moving onto the Capital City Freeway toward the Interstate 80 split. Police Department spokesman Officer Anthony Gamble said California Highway Patrol officers took over the pursuit of the yellow pickup when it entered I-5.
By 12:40 p.m., the pursuit made its way into East Sacramento as officers continued to chase the yellow pickup south on Alhambra Boulevard.
Minutes later, a Caltrans camera captured an image of the yellow pickup heading north on Highway 99 near 12th Avenue.
By 1 p.m., CHP officers had briefly backed off the fleeing vehicle, but a CHP helicopter continued to follow the yellow pickup, said Officer Justin Fetterly of the CHP’s North Sacramento office.
The fleeing yellow pickup continued weaving through East Sacramento streets, moving through alleys at one point to apparently avoid a spike strip placed on the road by officers, live aerial video footage from a KCRA helicopter showed.
The pursuit continued to an area near a Del Taco fast food restaurant in the 3000 block of K Street, near Alhambra. The suspect exited the pickup and was running away on foot, aerial video showed.
Both CHP and Sacramento police officers surrounded the Del Taco. There, the officers had one suspect prone on the sidewalk and in handcuffs outside the restaurant as they took him into custody.
Sacramento police officers detained the suspect, Gamble said. There were no additional suspects in the incident, he said.
Carjacking victim says he was knocked down by suspect
Jose Rodriguez-Vargas, of North Highlands, said the yellow pickup is his, and that it was taken from him by force on Friday. He gathered with others Friday afternoon around the area where the carjacking suspect was taken into custody.
The carjacking victim said he was at a construction work site near Sixth and X streets when the suspect pushed him out of the way and onto his back.
Rodriguez-Vargas said he complied with the suspect’s demands. He told The Sacramento Bee he felt some pain after he was knocked to the ground.
The carjacking suspect, after he was taken into custody, was taken away in an ambulance to be medically examined. No information on the status of his injuries was immediately available, Gamble said.
The Bee’s Molly Jarone and Daniel Hunt contributed to this story.
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