GILROY
– A career criminal high on methamphetamines and driving a
stolen car led local police on a high-speed chase often exceeding
60 mph through the streets of Gilroy this morning.
GILROY – A career criminal high on methamphetamines and driving a stolen car led local police on a high-speed chase often exceeding 60 mph through the streets of Gilroy this morning.
The man driving the stolen vehicle, 23-year-old Steve Prieto from San Jose, was eventually arrested by police after fleeing the scene of a vehicle accident near Miller Avenue and Fifth Street and hiding out in a Filice Drive resident’s backyard for nearly a half hour.
The Gilroy driver whose vehicle Prieto eventually T-boned on Miller Avenue reported minor back pain, and Prieto was the only other person injured in the 20-minute pursuit that raced out of control through many of the city’s quietest streets.
“We’re really lucky no one was injured worse,” said Steve Kinoshita, the California Highway Patrol officer who initiated the chase around 6 a.m. on U.S. 101 south of 10th Street. “This guy was out of control – running stop signs, doing twice the speed limit. It was a bad situation.”
The chase began on the northbound U.S. 101 offramp to 10th Street when Kinoshita noticed Prieto wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. Kinoshita followed Prieto onto 10th Street and turned on his red lights to pull Prieto over, planning to only give him a warning. But when Prieto reached Chestnut Street, he accelerated to 60 mph in an effort to lose the officer, according to Kinoshita.
Soon police dispatch reports came back on the license plate of the 1990 Lincoln Town Car Prieto was driving, relaying to Kinoshita that the car was reported stolen from Hollister at 5:30 this morning; the car’s owner had left the vehicle running in an effort to warm the car before making his morning commute.
“Chestnut dead-ends right at (Seventh Street),” Kinoshita said. “I tried to park my car to back him in, but he threw it in reverse and came right at my car at about 45 mph.”
Prieto avoided Kinoshita’s CHP cruiser, then led Kinoshita on a winding sprint near Eliot Elementary School, to Martin Street, out to Monterey Road, down Fifth Street and to Miller Avenue, where Prieto initiated a collision with another vehicle, according to Kinoshita.
“I backed off of him on Fifth Street because I was hoping he would slow down,” Kinoshita said. “The speeds were too dangerous, but he kept driving extremely fast. … That’s why he was about four blocks ahead of me when he got in the accident.”
Following the collision, several CHP and Gilroy Police Department officers joined the hunt for Prieto, who fled southbound on foot from the scene of the accident.
Both police agencies set up a perimeter around the area near Fifth Street and Miller Avenue with the hopes of surrounding Prieto, and tips from witnesses and neighborhood residents eventually led police to a home on Filice Drive near Fourth Street. Shortly before 7 a.m., Prieto was found hiding in bushes in the home’s backyard, where he was arrested without incident.
Prieto was booked in San Jose’s county jail on five felony and four misdemeanor charges as a result of the chase, including auto theft, assault of a peace officer, reckless evasion, driving under the influence of drugs and hit and run.
A methamphetamine pipe was also found on Prieto, who was high on the drug during the chase, according to Kinoshita. Prieto does not have a driver’s license, but he does have a lengthy criminal history.
Prieto suffered only minor injuries during the chase, and neither vehicles in the collision were substantially damaged, Kinoshita said.
“(Prieto’s) got a long criminal history, but I didn’t know that at the time,” Kinoshita said. “I was only going to get him for not wearing a seatbelt. … This was a case of being in the right place at the right time.”
