Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a San Francisco man after he led them on a high-speed pursuit through the north county early Thursday. The incident started around 1 a.m. on March 30 when a deputy stopped a grey BMW on northbound Highway 101 in the area of Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa.
According to a statement, the vehicle was stopped for excessive swerving which led the deputy to believe the driver may have been driving intoxicated.
The deputy contacted the driver, 34-year-old Juan Correa of San Francisco. Correa wouldn’t roll his window down or provide identification for the deputy, only adding to the suspicion that he may have been driving drunk. The sheriff’s department said the deputy spent nearly five minutes at the driver side window trying to convince Correa to cooperate.
Correa then sped away at a high rate of speed, leading deputies northbound on Highway 101 at an estimated speed of 120 miles per hour.
Deputies attempted to deploy spike strips in Windsor and Healdsburg but the driver managed to avoid them. In the area of the Lytton Springs offramp, a deputy deployed another set of spike strips, which Correa drove over, puncturing his tires. Correa took the Independence Lane offramp, made a left turn and then proceeded southbound on 101.
Correa continued on the freeway on only two rims and two tires at speeds slowing to about 60 miles per hour. As Correa took the Arata Lane offramp, deputies performed a pursuit intervention technique by which the deputy forced Correa’s vehicle to spin sideways and come to a stop.
Correa still refused to come out of the vehicle and cooperate. Deputies broke out a car window and deployed a canine. Correa then left the vehicle to avoid being bitten. He was taken to the ground and arrested without injury for felony evading and resisting arrest. He was released the next day on $20,000 bond, according to Sergeant Spencer Crum.
It was later determined that Correa was reported as a missing person out of San Francisco. The circumstances of this missing person’s report are not fully known at this time. According to Crum it appears he was at a hospital in San Francisco for a medical procedure, and walked away before he was officially released.
Upon arrival at the county jail, a blood draw was completed. If it is determined that Correa was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, he could face DUI charges as well. Those results will take about a month.
