News

The driver of a stolen vehicle led police on a high-speed chase from Gilroy to north Morgan Hill Friday before crashing and fleeing the scene on foot, according to authorities. As of about 12 p.m., officers on the scene were still searching for the driver of the vehicle which crashed near the intersection of U.S. 101 and Coyote Creek Golf Drive, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Herb Kellogg. The incident prompted Morgan Hill Unified School District staff to place Sobrato High School, on Burnett Avenue, on a “code blue” lockdown while the suspect was hiding out. But district staff said there were no apparent or immediate “safety concerns” to the students and staff on campus. The high-speed chase started in Gilroy, when a Gilroy police officer spotted the stolen vehicle on the road and began following it, Kellogg said. The officer briefly lost sight of the vehicle in the area of Masten Avenue, but caught up to it on the freeway. Police continued to chase the vehicle - described as a black Chrysler by emergency communications staff overheard on a police scanner - northbound on U.S. 101 until it crashed in the area of Coyote Creek Golf Drive. The driver - the only known occupant of the vehicle - fled the crash site on foot into the nearby Coyote Creek bed. The suspect is still under pursuit by officers at the scene, Kellogg said. “Multiple agencies are involved” in the search for the suspect, Kellogg said. Kellogg did not know why the stolen vehicle crashed, or if any other vehicles were involved. The accident and the alleged crime are under investigation. More details on this incident will be posted as they are available. 

Gilroy-based Operation Freedom Paws is vying to pocket $25,000 through Turbana’s Win $25K For Your Cause program.

The South County California Student Opportunity and Access Program known as Cal-SOAP is celebrating a decade of helping low-income and first-generation students in San Benito and South County pursue their post-secondary education.

The five suspects – including three men from Gilroy – accused of kidnapping a woman two weeks ago in the area of Compton, sexually assaulting her and threatening to force her into prostitution have a felony settlement conference today, Aug. 30, in the Hall of Justice in Riverside.

VOLLEYBALL

Marysville

Christopher High School principal John Perales today officially

It’s been a crazy few weeks on the Gilroy crime beat. There’s been a $35,000 jewelry heist, a driver ramming a police car, a major arson at Christmas Hill Park and a slew of car thefts, car break-ins and credit card fraud.

The Christopher High girls soccer team kept pace with first-place Watsonville and upped its Monterey Bay League record to 7-1-1 with a 3-1 road triumph over Monterey High on Tuesday.

John Semenza was born in Hollister to John and Mary Semenza. John was preceded in death by his wife, Lucille (Sersen) Semenza of Watsonville.