Suspect arrested after fast, furious multi-county chase
GILROY >> A man who tried to rob a Pizza Hut — and may be linked to other successful armed holdups — was arrested over the weekend after leading authorities on a high-speed car chase that criss-crossed Santa Clara and San Benito counties, police said.
Izaak Anthony Diaz, 24, of Gilroy, was taken into custody Friday night on suspicion of attempted robbery, felony evading and resisting arrest. He is being held in the Santa Clara County Main Jail on $350,000 bail.
Diaz is suspected of ambushing a Pizza Hut in the 1100 block of First Street as an employee was putting money into a safe around 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to Gilroy police. Diaz allegedly brandished a handgun and demanded money, but the frightened employee ran to the back of the restaurant, and Diaz left without taking anything.
A Gilroy police officer spotted Diaz based on the victim’s description later that evening inside a blue 2007 Volkswagen Passat parked near the Garlic City Club Casino on San Ysidro Avenue, and tried to conduct a traffic stop. But the Volkswagen sped away, police said.
Police gave chase, and over the next hour, they traveled all the way to Hollister, where the Caifornia Highway Patrol took over the pursuit. Diaz led them back to Santa Clara County, and when he got to San Martin, authorities laid out spike strips that blew out three of the suspect’s tires, the CHP said.
Soon after, CHP officers used their patrol vehicles to ram and disable the Volkswagen in the southbound lanes of Highway 101. Diaz reportedly resisted officers and was subdued with the help of a police dog from the Morgan Hill Police Department.
All told, the police chase covered 58 miles, the CHP said, adding that officers recovered a handgun from the Volkswagen.
Diaz was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then booked into jail. He is officially linked to the attempted Pizza Hut robbery Friday, but Gilroy police are exploring his possible involvement in at least one of three other armed robberies committed on the same street during the previous week.
The most recent was a robbery reported at 9:13 p.m. Thursday at a Little Caesars pizza restaurant in the 1300 block of First Street, where a man brandished a handgun and stole money from a cashier. A surveillance image released by police show a man resembling Diaz, wearing a teal San Jose Sharks hooded sweatshirt, a gray beanie cap, and white shoes.
On Dec. 26 around 9:35 p.m., a Wienerschnitzel in the 700 block of First Street was robbed in similar fashion by a suspect who police described as a lightskinned Latino man, 5-foot-9 and around 150 pounds, with red-colored facial hair and last seen wearing a gray jacket, gray beanie cap, blue jeans and tan boots.
The Best Western Park Inn hotel on Leavesley Road was robbed at gunpoint at 6:52 p.m. on Dec. 24 by a suspect described as a white man about 20 years old, 6 feet tall with a medium build, green eyes, and last seen wearing a black hooded jacket and green baseball cap.
Anyone with information about any of the robberies can contact Gilroy police at 408846-0350. Anonymous tips are accepted.