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Escalon Man Killed Following Pursuit
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More questions than answers remain as authorities - and family and friends - try to determine what prompted Joseph 'Joey' Pinasco to try to evade the California Highway Patrol early Sunday morning. The evasive tactics grew into a chase and ultimately resulted in the death of Pinasco, 21, shot by CHP officers when he reportedly started to drive his truck directly at them.

According to the California Highway Patrol office in Stockton, officers were responding to a report of possible street racing on South Van Allen Road near Gawne Road around 1 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 24. As officers approached that area, they observed Pinasco, in a white Chevy pick-up, driving erratically. When they attempted to make a traffic stop, Pinasco took off, leading officers on a chase that wound through the back roads of the Farmington area.

Pinasco reportedly spun out and went down a small embankment in the area of Little John Road, and officers got out of their vehicles at that time, drawing their weapons and ordering Pinasco out of his truck. Then, according to Stockton CHP spokesman Adrian Quintero, Pinasco gunned the truck and drove directly at the officers.