Santa Rosa chase ends in crash, arrest of man in stolen truck

Santa Rosa police early Tuesday arrested a man suspected of driving a stolen pickup after the man tried to elude an officer in a short, fast pursuit that ended when he crashed into a parked car.

It started at about 1:30 a.m. when an officer saw a Toyota truck headed east on Fourth Street without its headlights on, Santa Rosa Sgt. Lisa Banayat said.

When the officer tried to stop the driver, the driver sped up and turned onto residential 12th Street, Banayat said.

That prompted a police chase lasting a few blocks. The officer reported the pickup driver was running stop signs and traveling about 45 mph in the 25 mph zone.

Turning onto Stewart Street the driver was on the wrong side of the roadway and plowed into a parked car, Banayat said.

Neither the driver, Thomas Edward Paine, 33, of Santa Rosa, or a 19-year-old female passenger were injured.

Paine was arrested on suspicion of possessing the stolen truck, evading an officer and violating his probation.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com or Twitter@rossmannreport.