Wednesday, June 22, 2005 -- Pacifica Police are on the lookout for a driver who left the scene of an accident after leading officers on a high-speed pursuit Monday night.
Officers Scott Avilla and Keith Altizer were riding together at about 10:25 p.m. Monday, June 20, when they saw a dark-colored Dodge pickup leaving the parking lot of the 7-Eleven at Clarendon and Lakeside.
As the truck headed east on Clarendon and onto southbound Francisco, the driver suddenly sped up, made an abrupt lane change and turned off the truck lights - as if to elude the officers behind.
Avilla and Altizer followed the truck and tried to pull it over at Sharp Park and Lundy. Instead of yielding the red lights, the driver took off east up Sharp Park Road at a high rate of speed.
With the patrol car in pursuit, the pickup driver tried to get onto southbound 280 from Westborough, but was going so fast the person lost control of the truck. It veered across several traffic lanes where it was struck by two passing vehicles. The driver of the truck jumped out and ran away, eluding capture.
The California Highway Patrol responded to investigate the freeway accident since it is their jurisdiction. There was one passenger in the pickup truck, Linda Lozano, 45, of Santa Rosa. She was taken to San Francisco General Hospital with a complaint of neck and back pain. She was later arrested for possession of a controlled substance. The two occupants of the other two vehicles involved in the crash were also taken to the hospital with minor to moderate facial lacerations.
Pacifica Police are continuing to investigate the identity of the driver of the pickup truck.
- Elaine Larsen
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