Two suspected vehicular burglars -- possibly part of a larger theft ring-- were apprehended Friday evening in a police chase that began in Lafayette and eventually went on and off Highway 24, into a residential court and included Walnut Creek police plus other law enforcement agencies, helicopters and canine units.
The ordeal began when a Lafayette police officer patrolling the El Nido Ranch Road area Friday afternoon spotted a black Dodge Charger parked on the roadside.
Parked in front of the Charger was another car -- and a man alongside that -- with his arm inside the vehicle and broken glass at his feet, police said.
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When the subject saw the cop, he dashed back to the Charger, jumped inside and the Charger's driver accelerated, took off and struck the patrol car, police said.
The Charger traveled west on Highway 24, with the suspects taking an off-ramp and then re-entering Highway 24, heading eastbound, the department said.
Lafayette officers lost sight of the car near the St. Stephens off-ramp, while highway witnesses told police that the suspects' vehicle had taken the St. Stephens off-ramp from the highway.
Assisting Orinda Police Department officers located the Charger, continuing the chase and following the car into Bates Court, police said.
Three subjects ditched the car at the end of Bates, and took off on foot through the yards of neighboring homes, police said.
Law enforcement officers from Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, East Bay Parks and the California Highway Patrol responded in the search for the fleeing suspects -- deploying helicopters and canine units, police said.
Two suspects were found and arrested -- one by officers and the other by a canine patrol, police said.
Neighbors also assisted, reporting sightings of the suspects running through their yards or streets, police said.
A third suspect was not located, and is believed to have fled the area.
A search of the Charger yielded various items of evidence that linked the trio to other auto burglaries within Lafayette, police said.
The vehicle was also previously caught on a neighborhood surveillance camera possibly in connection with prior car break-ins, police said.
The captured suspects, both from Oakland, were booked on a variety of charges, including suspicion of auto burglary, assaulting a police officer and evading arrest, police said.
Police are asking Hidden Valley neighborhood residents to check their home security systems for possible video footage of the suspects in or around their home.
Residents with information are asked to contact the Lafayette police at (925) 283-3680
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