Cop Car, Minivan Collide During Police Pursuit of Theft Suspects

AMERICAN CANYON, CA – Police, attempting this morning to apprehend two males allegedly involved in a theft at Home Depot in Napa, launched a pursuit that ended with a patrol car striking a minivan in an intersection in American Canyon, according to authorities.

The minivan driver, uninvolved in the police chase, and the officer driving the patrol vehicle, both complained of pain and were transported to Queen of the Valley Medical Center as precaution, the American Canyon Police Department said today.

Napa Police Department officers initially were called at about 7 a.m. to the Home Depot on Soscol Avenue for a reported theft in progress of $6,00o worth of tools by two men driving a U-Haul van, police said.

The pair in the U-Haul fled the store and were spotted by a Napa County Sheriff's deputy, who tried unsuccessfully to pull over the duo near Napa Valley College, officials said.

"The van, however, failed to yield and evaded the deputy, continuing southbound at a high rate of speed," the department said.

The chase continued into the City of American Canyon, where local officers got behind the U-Haul and picked up the pursuit. While crossing through the intersection with American Canyon Road, the marked police vehicle collided with the minivan driving west, officials said. The chase eventually was disbanded as the two suspects, described as black males, in the U-Haul exited Highway 37 at Wilson Avenue in Vallejo and American Canyon units were "unable to keep up with the speeds and recklessness," the department said.

The California Highway Patrol responded to the American Canyon accident scene and will handle the investigation.

Anyone with information on the suspects or who witnessed the collision is asked to call American Canyon police at (707) 253-4451.

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