Crime & Safety

Slow-Speed Pursuit Ends On Knob Hill Avenue

The driver, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, was responsible for at least two crashes, police said.

The slow-speed pursuit of a vehicle police believe was responsible for multiple crashes within a short period of time ended Thursday afternoon with the arrest of a woman.

The chase ended at about 2:30 p.m. in the 300 block of Knob Hill Avenue.

"I heard her coming down Sapphire," said Alison Clay Duboff, who lives on Broadway. At first, Duboff thought the woman was having car trouble, but "then I realized she was running away ... She was just going around and around and around."

Duboff added, "People were trying to get her to stop, and she wouldn't stop."

Officers at the scene spoke with the woman, who was over 18 but not otherwise identified, and administered a field sobriety test. Based on the results of the sobriety test, she was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

While officers were speaking to her, she loudly insisted that she had never been pulled over by police.

Results from a preliminary Breathalyzer test were not immediately released.

Police first started following the Dodge SUV with Minnesota plates after Officer Dan Richey noticed damage on the woman's car, according to Sgt. Edward Jackson. Soon after, police started getting reports from dispatchers about a woman driving erratically and crashing into other vehicles.

The SUV hit at least two other vehicles—one at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Knob Hill and another at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Sapphire Street—but it wasn't immediately clear where the pursuit started and where it ended.

Monica Burris, who witnessed part of the pursuit, was walking to Ruby Liquor when she saw what she at first thought was someone doing "donuts" with a vehicle in the large intersection at Ruby Street and Broadway.

The woman then drove eastbound on Ruby, Burris said.

"She almost crashed into a biker," Burris said. "She just straight turned onto PCH like there were no cars .. All the cars stopped. They just all had to stop.

"And the biker just saw his life flash before his eyes … I was so scared."

The vehicle traveled southbound on Pacific Coast Highway before making a right onto Sapphire.  

The top speed of the pursuit was about 15 mph, Jackson said.

"It was a slow-speed pursuit because of how disabled her car was," Richey told Patch.

Police did not believe any injuries occurred during the pursuit. Officers will continue to investigate.


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