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Suspect Flees Following Vehicle Check
escalon-police-department

An Escalon police officer who recognized a truck as being involved in a previous crime attempted to make contact with the driver early afternoon Friday, Feb. 2 but the suspect fled from the scene in the 1300 block of Yosemite.

Police Chief Mike Borges said Officer Carl Poortinga was in the area and recognized a truck that a few weeks earlier had been involved in a traffic stop where weapons and drugs were seized. The registered owner of the truck had since gotten the vehicle back, police said, and this time a different subject was seen driving it. When officer Poortinga attempted to make contact with the driver around 1 p.m. Friday, the man reportedly fled from the vehicle and entered a nearby home by opening a window and climbing inside.

He would not come out of the home, Borges said, and indicated to Poortinga that it was his girlfriend’s home. A female arriving on scene confirmed the man was her boyfriend. Officers did check the vehicle and found an expired license, which Borges said prompted them to begin impound proceedings for the vehicle.

“A loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun was found in between the driver’s seat and the console,” Borges explained.

It was then that the suspect fled from the home and started running through a residential neighborhood, seen in the area of Kern and St. Clair and then fleeing eastbound.

Officers gave chase but were unable to take the suspect into custody. An inventory of the vehicle located not only the loaded weapon but also “cash, scales and packaging material” consistent with drug sales, said Borges, along with an ounce of crystal meth, over two ounces of marijuana and some concentrated cannabis, commonly known as hash.

 

Borges said the truck will be impounded for 30 days and the investigation is continuing.