Deputy Who Crashed Patrol Car Into Bodega Bay House ID'd

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has identified a deputy who crashed his patrol car into a Bodega Bay vacation house during a pursuit earlier this month as 35-year-old Matt Carlson.

Carlson suffered serious injuries but has since been released from a hospital. He is expected to be out of work for three to nine months, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

Carlson has been a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy for one year, and he was previously with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office for a year and a half, Crum said.

Sonoma County sheriff's deputies were investigating reported thefts of generators from campgrounds in the Bodega Bay area on Oct. 14 when they saw two vehicles leave the parking lot of Doran Beach campground.

They followed a Honda Pilot that failed to yield to a traffic stop on state Highway 1. During a pursuit, Carlson lost traction on a curve and his patrol car went off the road and crashed into a vacation home occupied by
three San Francisco residents, sheriff's officials said.

The crash caused the patrol car and house to catch fire and Carlson and another deputy were able to open the front door and get the three occupants out of the house.

Two portable generators were found inside the abandoned Honda at a construction site, and the Honda was stolen from the Santa Cruz area, according to the sheriff's office.

The Honda driver, Ryan Christopher Moore, 35, of Santa Rosa, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, reckless evading causing great bodily injury and resisting a peace officer, Crum said.

Moore is scheduled to be in Sonoma County Superior Court today.

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• Deputy Crashes Into Bodega Bay House During Pursuit
• Suspect Found In Pursuit Ending With Deputy's Fiery House Crash

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--Bay City News/Images via Sonoma Sheriff