CHP: Highway 101 motorcyclist jailed after 114-mph ride through Petaluma

Speeding through Petaluma on Highway 101 early Saturday a motorcycle rider found himself in the middle of a CHP speed enforcement operation and was clocked at 114 mph, the CHP said Monday.

Rider Timothy Brown Jr., 26, eventually stopped and told officers he’d panicked after seeing them and had hoped to avoid a ticket, said CHP spokesman Officer Jon Sloat. Officers arrested the San Rafael man and took him to the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of reckless driving, evading officers and driving without a valid license.

Six officers and a sergeant were working Saturday morning along the highway in northern Petaluma. By the end of the effort they’d given out 50 tickets, arrested two and impounded three vehicles, Sloat said.

Brown came through at about 8:40 a.m. Officers first clocked the Suzuki motorcycle at 93 mph then reported it sped up to 114 mph.

Traffic on the highway caused the motorcycle to slow and the rider then moved in between lanes at about 75 mph before he moved into the center divider to pass, Sloat said.

The rider stopped in the median divide after another officer up ahead parked his patrol car there and got out, directing the man to stop.

Another arrest by the CHP during the weekend stemmed from a 911 call alerting officers that a woman driving in the Forestville area was possibly intoxicated.

Officers were alerted at about 4:40 p.m. Sunday and were told the driver was in an Isuzu Rodeo. Officers stopped the vehicle on Highway 116 in town.

A preliminary test indicated driver Cathleen Covaia, 65, had about three times the legal blood-alcohol limit for drivers. She was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving with excessive blood alcohol content and having two DUI cases in 10 years, Sloat said.