Armed driver rampages on streets
A armed driver careened through the streets of Oakland on Wednesday morning, ditching officers as he slammed into dozens of cars and injured a pregnant woman before he was ultimately nabbed trying to nonchalantly walk away from his vehicle in Berkeley, officials said.
“This incident was extremely dangerous,” said Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland police spokeswoman. “The driver of this vehicle was armed with a handgun as he intentionally rammed other cars. Additionally, he would point a firearm at them.”
Police are now searching for the gun the suspect allegedly pointed at police and civilians during the chaotic episode.
The rampage began around 8: 30 a. m., when someone called police about a driver of a darkcolored Mitsubishi sedan who intentionally slammed into a car near East 23rd Street and Coolidge Avenue, Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton said.
Police recognized the vehicle description from the night before, when they got a call from a woman who said someone rammed her and pointed a gun at her.
As officers responded Wednesday, the driver hit two of their cruisers at Fruitvale Avenue and Hyde Street before he continued on, crashing into other vehicles around Oakland, Bolton said.
In one instance, the driver allegedly plowed into a pregnant woman’s car, injuring her. He also was reported to be pointing a gun at people at 14th and Filbert streets in West Oakland, where police from multiple agencies caught up to him, officials said.
During the fracas, the driver slammed into several dozen civilian vehicles, three or four Oakland police cruisers and at least two Berkeley police cars, Watson said.
The man’s driving became so dangerous that officers opted to stop the chase on the ground and try to follow him by air from a California Highway Patrol fixedwing aircraft, Bolton said.
“He was driving at extremely high speeds and erratically,” Watson said. “At some points he was going the wrong direction.”
The CHP spotted the Mitsubishi on the 1700 block of Hearst Avenue in Berkeley around 9: 20 a. m. and multiple officers in patrol cars and armored vehicles moved in.
Berkeley police spotted the suspect, a 55- year- old man with addresses in Berkeley and San Pablo, walking away from the car with his hands in his pockets, officials said.
Police ordered him to stop and comply with them, but he refused, so they hit him with several beanbag rounds, Watson said. He immediately went to the ground and was detained without further incident.
The man, who was not named, was arrested on suspicion of several crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon, pointing a firearm and several vehicle violations.
No officers were injured in the chase. Paramedics took the injured pregnant woman to a hospital with nonlifethreatening injuries.
Police continue to search for the firearm, digging through the car and retracing the steps of the police chase to see if the man threw it out of the vehicle at some point.