A wanted parolee from Nevada was arrested Tuesday night after smashing a delivery-type truck into a California State Parks patrol cruiser at the north Salmon Creek Beach parking lot near Bodega Bay, a park ranger said.
Two rangers responded to a report of a drunken driver at the Bodega Dunes campground around 6 p.m., Supervising Ranger Jeremy Stinson said. Witnesses reported the vehicle being driven recklessly around the grounds.
The vehicle had left the campground by the time the rangers arrived, but they spotted it about a mile north at the state beach parking lot. The driver, Adam Russell Charnley, 45, was uncooperative and refused to come out of the truck, Stinson said. He eventually rammed his vehicle into the patrol cruiser, disabling it, Stinson said.
Charnley attempted to flee, apparently not realizing that the only exit to the lot was blocked by the police car, Stinson said. That led to a brief standoff as he refused to come out of his vehicle, even when confronted by additional rangers and Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies.
Officers eventually entered through the rear of the truck and subdued Charnley using pepper spray, Stinson said.
Officers are not sure where Charnley lives or how he came to be in Sonoma County, he said. They are trying to determine who owns the truck, which is registered to an address in Santa Rosa, and how Charnley came to be behind the wheel.
"He has not been cooperative so far," Stinson said.
Charnley was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, driving with a suspended license and driving under the influence.
No officers were injured in the incident, Stinson said.
You can reach Staff Writer Sean Scully at 521-5313 or sean.scully@pressdemocrat.com.
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