Sep 21, 2009 11:35 pm US/Pacific
2 Arrested, 4 Hurt In San Rafael Police Chase
SAN RAFAEL (BCN) ―
San Rafael police were still looking for a juvenile suspect in two attempted auto burglaries that led to a crash involving two San Rafael police cars Sunday night.
The crash injured two pedestrians, Alexander Vassiliou, 20, and Michael Aliano, 26, both of San Rafael, and police officers Kyle Hornstein and Travis Ruggles.
The officers were treated and released from Marin General Hospital. Vassiliou suffered minor injuries and Aliano declined medical attention, police said.
The incident began about 9:30 p.m. when police went to the 500 block of Whitewood Way for two reported attempted auto burglaries. A resident had reported seeing two suspects in cars belonging to neighbors.
A third male was sitting in a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado pickup, police Officer Margo Rohrbacher said.
As the resident and other citizens chased the suspects onto nearby Manuel T. Freitas Parkway, the driver of the pickup accelerated backward at a high rate of speed into the backyard of a home on Wisteria Way, Rohrbacher said.
The truck struck a carport and a vehicle and became stuck in gravel. The driver also fled with the other two suspects, Rohrbacher said.
Two of the citizens chasing the suspects dashed from a ditch into the path of one of the responding police vehicles, Rohrbacher said.
The patrol car driven by Hornstein stopped but the police car behind it, driven by Ruggles, slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting the pursuing citizens and struck the rear of Hornstein's patrol car, Rohrbacher said.
The collision forced Hornstein's car into Vassiliou and Aliano, police said.
Other police officers at the scene caught Jorge Elias Sanchez, 18, of San Rafael and the 15-year-old unlicensed driver of the Chevrolet pickup, Rohrbacher said. Another juvenile is still at large.
Sanchez was booked under $50,000 bail into the Marin County jail for attempted burglary and committing a gang-related crime.
The juvenile driver was booked into juvenile hall for attempted burglary, hit-and-run and committing a gang crime, the California Highway Patrol said.
The CHP is investigating the collision and San Rafael police were investigating the attempted burglaries.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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