A suspect fleeing police in a Range Rover collided with another motorist in a residential neighborhood on June 19, in an incident that sent both drivers to the hospital.
“The driver fled at high speed, ignored stop signs, and collided with another moving vehicle” after police attempted a traffic stop, the Vallejo Police Department wrote in a June 22 social media post. The post, which police cited as a reflection of the department’s commitment to community safety, made no mention of injuries.
The driver of the Honda was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis told Open Vallejo. The driver of the Range Rover also went to the hospital before being arrested and taken to jail, Hollis said, although he did not know whether the man’s injuries were caused by the collision or by officers. Hollis said officers used force in the course of arresting the man, but would not elaborate.
At the scene, first responders loaded the driver of the Range Rover onto a stretcher as he moaned in pain. The Honda sedan had major damage. “Everyone involved in a collision gets medically cleared,” Hollis said.
Police were not actively pursuing the suspect when he crashed, according to Hollis. The collision occurred less than 200 feet from where officers initially attempted to stop him for alleged reckless driving, according to the department’s social media post and an Open Vallejo analysis of Google Maps data.
The collision occurred at 10:52 a.m., according to the Vallejo Police Department’s daily incident log. At around that time, a Vallejo police officer radioed that he was pursuing a suspect on foot, eastbound on Florida Street, according to dispatch audio. The suspect abandoned his vehicle and “ran through multiple residential yards,” police alleged on social media.
Officers caught up with the suspect and called for additional units at Florida and Amador Streets, according to dispatch audio.
They called for medical aid and soon discovered that the suspect had a warrant out for his arrest in Sacramento County, according to dispatch audio and Solano County jail records. An officer allegedly found a loaded gun in his “path of flight,” the department announced on social media.
Less than a week after the Florida Street collision, a vehicle fleeing from police crashed in a residential neighborhood in North Vallejo, according to a Vallejo Police Department social media post.
Officers observed the Chrysler 300 driving recklessly and “pursued the driver until he collided with several parked vehicles,” according to police. A photograph posted online showed the car resting in a field with major front-end damage. It is unclear whether anyone was injured in that collision.
On July 5, Vallejo police tried to stop a man who allegedly fired a gun into the air in the 60 block of Admiral Callaghan Lane, according to police. He fled in a Toyota Camry but crashed into a tree about a minute later. The driver was medically assessed before being booked into Solano County Jail on several felony charges.
Vallejo police pursuits have increased by 131% between 2018 and 2023, and by 33% between 2022 and 2023, according to the department’s most recent published data. In 2024, four people were killed as people fled police, including a 76-year-old man who was crushed between two parked cars in October. Last July, two people died in police pursuits within three days of each other.
The Vallejo police policy manual requires that officers initiating a vehicle pursuit weigh “the risks to officers, innocent motorists, and others” against making an “immediate” arrest.
There are no “black-and-white criteria” for assessing whether or not to initiate or terminate a pursuit, Hollis said. “Every situation varies, and no one case fits all.”
