Crime & Safety

San Leandro Police Officer Hit Head-On by Suspect

The officer was treated at the hospital and released. The suspect, Alfredo Botelho, 51, was taken into custody.

A San Leandro Police officer was hit head-on by a suspect he was chasing on Thursday night, according to police department spokesman Lt. Jeff Tudor. 

The chase began after a man in a red minivan passed the officer at high speed on the 2100 block of Williams Street. The suspect, Alfredo Botelho, 51, of Hayward, sped up to around 80 mph on Doolittle Drive, swerving and driving erratically, Tudor said. The officer also saw the suspect flip off a fire engine driving by.

At the corner of Doolittle Drive and Davis Street, the suspect made a U-turn in his vehicle and headed straight towards the officer's car on the wrong side of the street, according to Tudor. The driver crashed head-on into the officer's car, causing the police car's airbags to deploy.

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The officer exited the vehicle, ordered the minivan driver out at gunpoint, and took him into custody. The man was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, the car, on a police officer. He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the chase, according to Tudor. 

The officer was treated at a hospital and released.

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