Hercules Police Chase Ends In Crash, Arrest

HERCULES, CA —A man who crashed his vehicle during a police pursuit Tuesday afternoon was arrested on suspicion of evading an officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, reckless driving and possession of a firearm that was loaded and unregistered to him, according to Hercules police.

An officer patrolling a parking lot in the 3600 block of San Pablo Avenue was flagged down just before 1:30 p.m. by a man who reported that his vehicle had been broken into.

There had been a number of auto burglaries in that area involving vehicles with paper license plates, and the officer noticed a Jeep with a paper plate leaving the scene. The officer attempted a traffic stop, but the
driver failed to yield and led the officer on a pursuit down Willow Avenue, then east on state Highway 4.

The driver reached speeds in excess of 85 mph in a 65 mph zone, according to police.

However, he lost control of the vehicle while trying to exit Highway 4 at Sycamore Avenue and crashed into a field, according to police.

The driver was taken into custody, but the officers on the scene noticed that the vehicle was catching fire and causing nearby vegetation to burn until firefighters from the Rodeo-Hercules Fire District put it out.

In the car, investigators found a handgun with a bullet in the chamber on the dashboard. A loaded magazine was found between the driver's seat and the center console, a violation of state law. The pistol was unregistered, and the vehicle was found to have been stolen on Sept. 15 in Antioch, police said.

The suspect, later identified as 27-year-old Paris Simmons of Richmond, was apprehended and then taken to a hospital to be medically cleared before he was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility, according to police.

Police said it's still not clear whether he was involved in the original auto burglary that prompted a victim to flag the officer down near San Pablo Avenue.

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— Bay City News; Images via Hercules Police