Police chase ends in downtown Sacramento with car fire and one arrest, deputies say

Jenavieve Hatch
·2 min read
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A suspect was arrested Sunday morning after authorities chased him from Central Oak Park to the Southside Park neighborhood of downtown Sacramento where the man barricaded himself inside a car for about an hour.

According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the pursuit began after a driver took off from a vehicle stop on 44th Street and 11th Avenue around 11:50 p.m. Saturday. The suspect, driving a white Infiniti Q45, was pulled over for a traffic violation, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi. Deputies later identified the vehicle and suspect in connection with multiple arrest warrants relating to firearm and drug charges.

The suspect fled Central Oak Park and led officers to downtown Sacramento, where the Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the Sacramento Police Department’s SWAT team. Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper also was on the scene.

The suspect crashed into a residential fence at Fifth and S streets, and Sacramento officers deployed spike strips to prevent him from driving away from the scene, Gandhi said.

When the suspect refused to leave his vehicle, SWAT officers broke one of his windows and deployed pepper spray. According to dispatch audio reviewed by The Sacramento Bee, deputies said the suspect then lit a cigarette and started a fire in the vehicle before surrendering around 1 a.m.

There were no passengers in the vehicle, and the suspect was arrested without injury and taken to the Main Jail, Gandhi said. Sacramento firefighters then responded to extinguish the fire in the car, which was a total loss.

The suspect, identified as a 42-year-old man, is facing a host of charges ranging from felony evasion of a police officer to hit and run property damage, as well as prior felony warrants for alleged possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest.

According to jail records, he was also wanted for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The man is being held in lieu of $105,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court.