Dads arrested in separate car incidents

FREMONT — A pair of drivers were arrested in separate Father’s Day weekend incidents that appeared to put children at risk, police said Tuesday.

The first incident happened around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, when an alert came from Newark police about a vehicle that fled the scene of a noninjury hit-and-run crash and was seen traveling 80 mph on Cherry Street toward Auto Mall Parkway.

Within minutes, Fremont officers said they received multiple 911 calls about a vehicle driving recklessly near Auto Mall Parkway.

Calls continued as it drove — at speeds between 60 to 80 mph and often on the wrong side of the road — to the Irvington district’s Five Corners at Paseo Padre Parkway, Stevenson Boulevard and Mission Boulevard.

As officers responded, three victims reported their vehicles were hit by the vehicle, and officers tried a traffic stop at Stevenson Place. The driver refused to stop, and officers started and stopped a pursuit.

After driving briefly through a McDonald’s in the 42800 block of Mission Boulevard, the vehicle drove northbound in southbound lanes of Interstate 680 before CHP officers stopped it in Pleasanton, where its driver surrendered and was taken into custody and arrested.

The driver, identified as a 30-year-old man, had a 2-year-old child on his lap while he was driving.

According to Fremont police, CHP charged the man on suspicion of felony evasion, driving under the influence and felony child endangerment.

At 2:45 p.m. Saturday, police received a report of a baby inside a locked vehicle whose engine was running while parked in a lot in the 43800 block of Osgood Road.

When officers responded to the lot, the vehicle had left.

Officers soon learned the vehicle was at Pacific Commons Shopping Center. An officer found a child asleep in a car seat inside the unlocked vehicle with its engine running and air-conditioning on.

A 37-year-old Daly City man identified as the child’s father returned to the vehicle and was arrested on suspicion of two counts of felony child endangerment. A family member took custody of the child, police said.