GILROY
– A man driving a stolen car led Santa Clara County sheriff’s
deputies on a weaving chase through San Martin and Gilroy streets
Wednesday afternoon at speeds approaching 100 mph.
The man identified himself to deputies as Mario Rodriguez Lopez,
35, of Gilroy.
GILROY – A man driving a stolen car led Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies on a weaving chase through San Martin and Gilroy streets Wednesday afternoon at speeds approaching 100 mph.
The man identified himself to deputies as Mario Rodriguez Lopez, 35, of Gilroy. He had no documents with him, so deputies will try to verify his identity through fingerprints, according to sheriff’s spokesman Terrance Helm.
The chase began at 3:31 p.m. in San Martin and ended at 3:50 on the south side of Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, according to sheriff’s officials.
In those 19 minutes, Lopez led his pursuers down at least 15 different streets, according to talk on police radio frequencies: Church Avenue, Monterey Road and Fitzgerald Avenue in San Martin and Santa Teresa Boulevard, Mantelli Drive, Wren Avenue, Third Street, Rosanna Street, Ninth Street, Church Street, First Street, Hanna Street, Tenth Street, Welburn Avenue and Miller Avenue in Gilroy – racing down many of these streets multiple times.
He ran red lights and stop signs while trying to evade the officers. He came close to 100 mph on Santa Teresa Boulevard, and he raced through Gilroy neighborhoods at 60 to 65 mph, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Bill Scott.
On the radio, officials reported Lopez driving recklessly and at one point referred to him as a possible “5150,” a reference to the state Welfare & Institutions Code section that allows police to detain a mentally disturbed person who is a danger to others.
Gilroy police, who assisted sheriff’s deputies in the incident, laid out a spike strip at Tenth and Eigleberry streets to burst Lopez’s tires, but he never drove over it.
Lopez finally stopped the white 1991 Toyota Camry at 3:48 p.m. at Santa Teresa and Miller after crashing into a median and a curb. He got out, jumped a chain-link fence and began sprinting east in the direction of Thomas Road. Sheriff’s deputies chased him from behind, but city police headed him off from Thomas and got to him first.
At gunpoint, he submitted to arrest.
The Camry was reported stolen from San Jose on Feb. 28, according to Scott.
Lopez faces possible felony charges for auto theft and evading arrest and could face others.
No alcohol or drugs were found in the Camry, but deputies did find two knives there, Scott said.
Also in the area where Lopez was arrested, deputies found a pipe like those used for smoking methamphetamine, Scott said.
The chase began at Church and Murphy avenues, just south of the San Martin airport. A patrolling deputy saw Lopez drinking alcohol while driving and tried to pull him over, according to Scott, but Lopez sped off instead.
Chief Photographer James M. Mohs contributed to this report.
