Suspect at large after trying to run down officer

Police are still looking for a man who eluded an hourslong search after he and a car full of other suspects reportedly tried to run down an officer with their car and led then on a chase into the East San Jose foothills Sunday night.

One of the captured suspects was a teenage boy wanted for attempted murder, police said.

Officers pulled into the parking lot of Marina Foods near Monterey and Senter roads in South San Jose around 7:30 p.m. after they observed a “disturbance” and tried to contact a man in the lot. The man ignored them and got into a waiting car.

Police said one of the officers recognized an occupant of the car as a suspect in an unspecified attempted murder case, and so they pulled their patrol vehicle in front of the car to keep it from leaving.

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As one of the officers got out to approach the car, the driver put it into reverse in an apparent attempt to flee, and accelerated toward the officer now on foot, and he had to get out of the way to avoid getting hit, police said.

The car then lurched forward and hit a parked car, which prompted one of the occupants — but not the wanted teen — to exit and try to run away, but he was swiftly caught and arrested.

Meanwhile, the car, with two men and the teen, sped away. Police briefly lost track of the car, but later spotted it eight miles north in the area of Alum Rock Avenue and North White Road. Police said the car continued north on Alum Rock to Harriet Avenue, where the three occupants hit a parked car, then ditched their car and ran away.

Two of the suspects were quickly caught and arrested, police said.

The at-large suspect remains unaccounted for despite an extensive search of the area with the assistance of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, which dispatched deputies because the unincorporated area is in their jurisdiction.

While searching the getaway car — which was determined to be stolen and possibly linked to an armed robbery — police recovered a firearm and what appeared to be body armor, a source told this news organization.

No officers were injured in the encounters. Additional details were not immediately released.

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