Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Police spikes nail deputy tires

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 17:46:05 -0500

Police spikes nail deputy tires

Santa Rosa officer lays strips,
fails to warn sheriff's officers pursuing suspect

January 23, 2003

By RANDI ROSSMANN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
January 23, 2003

Whoops.

A Santa Rosa police officer put spike strips down Wednesday to help catch a
speeding driver and instead popped the tires on the cars of two sheriff's
deputies who hadn't been warned to watch out.

The suspect swerved to avoid getting skewered.

The first deputy to follow him also missed the spikes. The chase continued on
to Petaluma, where the fleeing driver ran over a spike strip laid out by
another deputy.

Dan Minto, 33, of San Mateo was arrested and taken to Sonoma County jail.

As he led the chase, deputies saw items being thrown from the car window,
including a 12-gauge shotgun. The items, apparently stolen, were later
collected and detectives are now working to clear up some recent burglaries,
Sheriff's Capt. Dave Sederholm said.

Santa Rosa police hadn't been asked to join the pursuit. "They intercepted our
radio traffic on the scanner and an officer from Santa Rosa deployed a spike
strip and two of our cars ran over it," he said.

Red-faced Santa Rosa police officials are investigating why the spike strip was
deployed and why the deputies weren't informed about it.

It was unclear if the officer made the decision or was directed to do so by a
supervisor, said Santa Rosa Police Cmdr. Steve Thomas, who declined to release
the officer's name.

The pursuit began just after 1 a.m. in west Santa Rosa.

A man told deputies that two men in a white Buick drove him to the Willowside
Road area, assaulted him and fired guns at him, Sederholm said. The man said he
escaped by swimming across a flood control channel.

A deputy tried to pull over a similar car spotted nearby, Sederholm said, but
the driver sped away.

On Stony Point Road near West College Avenue, the Santa Rosa officer heard the
chase was coming his way and put out the strip.

Authorities said Minto and a deputy directly behind him apparently saw the
officer and the strip and both avoided it.

Two more deputies trailing them hit the spikes and were forced out of the
chase, which then continued south toward Petaluma.

It ended at Stony Point and Pepper roads when Minto crossed over the second
spike strip, Sheriff's Lt. Steve Satterwhite said.

The chase lasted about 20 minutes and covered almost 20 miles, Satterwhite said.

Minto was in Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of possessing stolen property,
evading arrest and violating probation.

Authorities are trying to determine if he was involved in the assault reported
in the Willowside Road area.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/23pursuit_b3.html

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