On Saturday August 25, 2018, at approximately 8:00 p.m., a Santa Rosa Police sergeant was stopped at a red traffic light at College Ave and Morgan St. The officer noticed a Dodge pickup truck approaching the back of the patrol car at a high rate of speed. The pickup swerved to the left and narrowly avoided colliding with the back of the patrol car. The pickup then swerved back to the right almost hitting the back of another vehicle. The pickup made a sharp turn back into the number two left turn lane for southbound Highway 101 and came to a stop for a red traffic light.
The Sergeant pulled in behind the pickup and activated his emergency lights in order to stop the pickup for the observed driving. When the light turned green, the pickup accelerated to approximately 90 mph and cut across to the number one lane of south bound Highway 101. The pickup made a sharp right turn from the fast lane and cut across the gore point for Highway 12.
The pickup drove recklessly through Santa Rosa neighborhoods before circling back to south bound Highway 101. The pickup exited the highway at the Rohnert Park Expressway and continued to drive recklessly through the City of Rohnert Park. While fleeing east bound on Wilfred Ave., the driver of the pickup threw two large backpacks out of the vehicle. The backpacks were later recovered and contained several pounds of marijuana.
The pickup again got back on south bound Highway 101 and reached speeds of 100 mph before exiting again at Petaluma Blvd. The driver of the pickup pulled over after taking the exit and surrendered to officers.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as 34 year old Santa Rosa resident Francisco Javier Palomino Alvarez. Alvarez is on federal probation and was found to have failed to check in with his probation officer. Alvarez had also been drinking prior to the pursuit and was found to be DUI.
Alvarez was arrested on the following charges:
2800.2 VC- Felony Reckless Evading
23152(a) VC- Misdemeanor DUI
23152(b) VC- Misdemeanor DUI over .08
Anyone with information about this case can call the Santa Rosa Police Department at (707) 543-3600. Further media inquiries can be forwarded to Sergeant Mike Clark at email – mjclark@srcity.org or at (707) 543-4028.
