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Manhunt leads to pair of arrests
Comments 0 | Recommend 0By land and by air, authorities search orchards and farmland
Two men were arrested Saturday night after a traffic stop in Yuba County turned into a massive manhunt in orchards and farmland, the California Highway Patrol said.
A CHP officer spotted a GMC Sierra pickup, believed to be stolen, with two occupants on Hammonton-Smartville Road around 6 p.m., Capt. Jim Young said.
The officer, a nine-year CHP veteran whose name was not released, made a traffic stop on the vehicle, which pulled into a driveway of a residence on Griffith Avenue, Young said.
As the officer waited for backup, the truck went into reverse, prompting the officer to fire his service weapon at the vehicle. It then sped forward through the yard of the home, breaking through fences, Young said.
The officer followed in his patrol car.
The pickup eventually crashed into a ditch, and the occupants fled into an orchard, triggering the search, Young said.
Sheriff's deputies from Yuba and Sutter counties and police from Yuba City, Marysville and Wheatland aided the CHP. Fish and Game officers were involved as well, Young said. CHP and Placer County helicopters were overhead.
As the manhunt continued, Hammonton-Smartville Road was closed, including to area residents.
Initial reports at the roadblocks were that the suspects had fired at the CHP officer, but Young said it appears only the officer fired a weapon.
Residents of the blockaded area waited at the roadblocks along Griffith south of Hammonton-Smartville for word about when they could return to their homes. Maudie Chandler, who lives on Griffith near where yellow police tape stretched across the road, said she had just gone grocery shopping.
"Thank God I didn't buy ice cream," she said.
She eventually opted to head to a friend's home in Yuba City.
The two suspects were eventually apprehended. Hammonton-Smartville was reopened around 8:30 p.m., Young said.
At least one of the suspects was arrested with the help of a K-9, suffering a dog bite.
Names of the suspects were not immediately available.
Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Robert LaHue at 749-4713 or rlahue@appealdemocrat.com
