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What started as Mountain View police officers responding to an in-progress burglary on Sunday, turned into a chase that left two patrol cars damaged and one officer injured, according to the police department.
Police received word from a video monitoring security company in the middle of the night on April 12 that two people were attempting to break into a locked storage area in a parking garage on the 1200 block of Pear Avenue, an April 14 police press release said. When officers arrived on scene at about 2 a.m., the suspects fled the garage in a car.
While leaving, the suspects’ vehicle hit the bumper of a patrol car, causing minor damage, the press release said. As the suspects continued to drive off, they struck a second police car at the nearby intersection of Pear Avenue and Shoreline Boulevard. This collision significantly damaged both cars, leading the suspects to leave their vehicle and start fleeing on foot, according to police.
Officers apprehended one of the suspects, a 37-year-old homeless man, with the help of a Mountain View police dog, as he attempted to leap over a fence. The dog bit the man on his lower back and right tricep, resulting in two puncture wounds, police spokesperson Monica Leon told the Voice. Police transported him to a local hospital for treatment.
Police arrested the second suspect, a 43-year-old homeless man, in a nearby parking lot, according to the press release. He was also taken to a hospital for evaluation due to the collisions. Both men were medically cleared, Leon said.
Police determined that the vehicle used by the two men had been stolen in Sunnyvale. One police officer suffered “minor injuries” from the second collision and was treated at a local hospital, the press release said.
Both suspects were booked into county jail on suspicion of multiple felonies. The 37-year-old man was booked for vehicle theft, hit-and-run causing injury, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, evading a peace officer with reckless driving, resisting arrest, attempted burglary, criminal conspiracy and probation violation. The 43-year-old was also booked for resisting arrest, attempted burglary, criminal conspiracy and probation violation, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of burglary tools.
Detectives are now looking into whether the two suspects have been involved in any other, similar incidents, the press release said.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include information about injuries sustained by the two suspects, which was not included in the police department’s original press release. A police spokesperson shared these in response to questions from the Voice.
Wishing the injured officer a speedy recovery.
Hoping the officer has a full recovery.”hitting cop cars” in the headline. Why “cop cars” and not police cars? I find using the term cop is somewhat disrespectful to our hard working police officers. There are far too many homeless criminals living on the streets of North Mountain View. As a business owner with an office building near Shoreline Blvd and Terra Bella, we have been dealing with the mischief including vandalism and theft caused by these criminals for many years now. Most that I have encountered are drug addicts living in RVs parked on our streets, praying on law abiding
businesses and citizens. Get these RVs off of our streets and we will see crime rates drop.
If you listen to the song “The big rock candy mountain”, the lack of a home should not define who you are. I hope the homeless coalition funds of California can be used to replace the police cars.