Wild Pursuit On Peninsula Ends With Crash, Woman Arrested
SAN CARLOS (CBS SF) – A San Mateo County sheriff's sergeant suffered minor injuries when he rammed and pushed a suspect's car off the road during a vehicle pursuit in San Carlos Monday morning, sheriff's officials said.
Around 7:40 a.m., sheriff's officials received a report from the San Carlos Fire Department that a driver had struck a fire station at the corner of Alameda de las Pulgas and Howard Avenue, according to sheriff's spokesman Detective Sal Zuno.
When fire personnel tried to check on the female driver, she fled in her vehicle. Fire personnel were able to take the car's license plate number, describing it as a silver Toyota, Zuno said.
As deputies began searching for the driver, they received another report that a driver crashed into a Safeway store in Belmont, located at 1100 El Camino Real. The crash damaged a door at the store, according to Zuno.
The driver fled in her vehicle from that crash. A sheriff's sergeant then followed her as she traveled south on El Camino Real.
The sergeant tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver allegedly ignored him. A low speed pursuit at about 35 mph then ensued, Zuno said.
During the pursuit, the driver then collided with another vehicle on El Camino Real at Olive Street, according to Zuno.
After the crash, the suspect tried to flee, and started driving into oncoming traffic. A sheriff's sergeant, afraid the suspect would cause a head-on collision during rush hour, rammed into the car from behind and pushed it onto the sidewalk, sending her car on top of the patrol car, Zuno said.
"It was quick thinking on the sergeant's part," Zuno said. "At that point she had already struck two structures and a car. Based on her behavior, she was not going to stop."
After the collision, deputies arrested the woman, identified as 54-year-old Karen Teichmann of San Carlos, according to Zuno.
Both Teichmann and the sheriff's sergeant were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Zuno said.
Deputies are working to determine whether drugs or alcohol were a factor in the incident.
Deputies initially closed El Camino Real between Olive Street and Arroyo Avenue as they investigated the incident. The roadway has since reopened, according to the sheriff's office.
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