GILROY
– A hit-and-run turned into a high-speed police chase and ended
with the speeder snapping a power pole in half at more than 90 mph
in San Martin, according to the sheriff’s department.
GILROY – A hit-and-run turned into a high-speed police chase and ended with the speeder snapping a power pole in half at more than 90 mph in San Martin, according to the sheriff’s department.
Deputies arrested driver Guadalupe Ramirez, 21, of Watsonville, in the Oct. 11 incident, charging him with reckless evading of arrest, a felony, and two misdemeanors: driving under the influence of alcohol and hit-and-run.
To the surprise of the deputy who gave chase, no injuries resulted from the incident, either when Ramirez’s Ford Mustang Cobra splintered the power pole or when, earlier, he hit another car at high speed.
Deputy Dustin Davis says he videotaped the whole thing using the camera mounted in his patrol car. He said he switched the camera on while following a slow-moving car southbound on Monterey Road, north of San Martin.
Ramirez’s Mustang smashed into the slower car at about 10:30 p.m. and spun it around 360 degrees, Davis said. The struck car came to rest in the opposite traffic lane, Ramirez took off, and Davis began pursuit. Davis said Ramirez was going about 100 mph southbound on the shoulder of the road and turned west onto San Martin Avenue, again going about 100 mph.
Ramirez tried to turn south onto Coolidge Avenue and ran a stop sign there at about 90 to 95 mph, Davis said. He failed to fully maneuver the turn and hit the power pole on the roadside head-on, snapping it in half and activating the Mustang’s air bags.
“He didn’t even brake going into the turn,” Davis said.
The Mustang drove through the pole, through a 4-foot corral fence and about 200 feet into a pasture before stopping, Davis said. The collision left about 200 feet of live electric wires on the ground between police and the Mustang.
Deputies closed off the area, called in Pacific Gas & Electric to repair the pole and arrested Ramirez, Davis said. In the process, they had to keep several llamas grazing in the pasture away from the electrical lines.
