Two men who fled from police by driving the wrong way down U.S.
101 before crashing their car full of stolen electronics into a
tree in south Gilroy are still at large.
Two men who fled from police by driving the wrong way down U.S. 101 before crashing their car full of stolen electronics into a tree in south Gilroy are still at large.
About 4:30 a.m., California Highway Patrol officers spotted a bright blue 1998 Chevrolet Monte Carlo speeding south on U.S. 101 near Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill. When officers tried to pull the driver over, he accelerated, spurring a high-speed chase that reached about 100 mph from Tennant Avenue to San Martin Avenue, about three miles south. The driver took the San Martin exit, cut over U.S. 101 on San Martin Avenue and re-entered northbound U.S. 101, but continued heading south.
“At that point, we called off the pursuit for the safety of the motoring public,” CHP Officer Jaime Rios said. “It was getting to be rush hour and we weren’t going to follow them the wrong way on 101.”
Officers established a perimeter and, several minutes later, spotted the blue Monte Carlo on Ferguson Road in east Gilroy traveling southbound, where they picked up the pursuit. Police chased the car as the driver made a right onto Pacheco Pass Highway heading west. At the U.S. 101 northbound on-ramp on 10th Street, the driver again headed in the wrong direction on U.S. 101.
The driver then lost control of the Monte Carlo and crashed into a tree near the Chevron gas station by the northbound U.S. 101 on-ramp at Monterey Road. Leaving a trail of bloody clothes and shoes, the two men fled on foot and were last seen heading in the direction of the Gilroy Sports Park in south Gilroy.
Rios said officers “have a good idea” of who the men were based on identification that was left in the car, but would not release the names of the suspects. A search of the crashed car turned up several thousand dollars in stolen computers, laptops and DVDs.
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