Passengers inside a mangled stolen pick-up truck that crashed
into a utility pole following a high-speed chase Thursday morning
near Gilroy yelled out to emergency personnel for help, but
officers were forced to wait more than 20 minutes to assist and
arrest the suspects because of downed power lines on the vehicle,
according to the California Highway Patrol.
Passengers inside a mangled stolen pick-up truck that crashed into a utility pole following a high-speed chase Thursday morning near Gilroy yelled out to emergency personnel for help, but officers were forced to wait more than 20 minutes to assist and arrest the suspects because of downed power lines on the vehicle, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The crash was the result of a dangerous, high-speed pursuit along Highway 152, which reached speeds of 100 mph and ended on Ferguson Road north of Leavesley Road, not far from where officers set down a spike strip to puncture the truck’s right front tire, CHP Officer Jaime Rios said.
The downed lines caused a small brush fire, which emergency workers extinguished to prevent a possible explosion, Rios said.
Against officers’ orders, two of the suspects climbed out of the truck – a Chevrolet Silverado reported stolen out of Los Banos – with live wires still draped across the vehicle. After arresting the passengers, officers held off for almost 30 more minutes while PG&E crews arrived to shut off power and allow officers to safely reach the driver, who was unresponsive, Rios said.
“They were yelling the whole time. They were yelling for help from us,” Rios said. “It was very complicated and difficult for us. We wanted to get to them as soon as possible and assess their injuries, but because of the downed power lines we couldn’t do it as quickly as we wanted to.”
He added, “It was pretty wild. The fact that the power lines went down just made it so much more difficult. We’re concerned about their safety, but at the same time, we’re concerned about our own safety.”
The driver, 40-year-old Lidya Rubio Arredando, was airlifted to Regional Medical Center of San Jose with internal bleeding and brain bleeding, Rios said. She is expected to live, he added, and faces charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, felony driving under the influence and evading police.
Arredando is currently a resident of San Jose but is in the process of moving to Los Banos, Rios said.
The passengers were 38-year-old Kimberly Olson and 33-year-old David Olmos, both Los Banos residents. Olson suffered a fractured pelvis and has not been charged with any crimes. Olmos was not seriously injured and faces charges of being under the influence of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, Rios said.
The truck was reported stolen from a Los Banos residence around 7 a.m., Rios said. The truck belongs to the Panoche Drainage District out of Firebaugh, Calif., roughly 30 miles from Los Banos, Rios said.
The person who reported the truck stolen followed the suspects for 35 miles until the chase reached Casa de Fruta, where the truck was spotted by the CHP, Rios said.
With several CHP units following the vehicle, the truck “took off” toward Gilroy, Rios said.
The truck ran over the spike strip near Bloomfield Avenue, then turned down Ferguson Road, where it crashed, Rios said.
He said officers wanted to disable the vehicle before it reached a more populated area.
“They were not complying with our orders, and they were starting to head towards Gilroy,” Rios said, “and we decided we needed to get this car stopped.”
