Two arrested after Healdsburg police chases

Healdsburg police arrested two motorists they pursued Thursday in lengthy chases that began when officers attempted to stop vehicles that were not using their headlights.

The first chase began just after noon when police tried to stop a truck with its windshield wipers on but headlights off, according to police. The driver sped away, triggering a roughly 25-mile chase that lasted nearly a half-hour until police arrested the suspect, Daniel Lee Ward, 32, in west Santa Rosa.

The second chase started after police allegedly saw a car driving with its headlights off late Thursday night. After pulling over south of town, the driver, a minor, fled the scene but came into the police station Friday morning and was arrested there, police said.

In the initial incident, police at 12:03 p.m. tried to stop a navy blue GMC pickup at Matheson and Fitch streets, but the truck sped off before an officer could speak to the driver. Police followed as the vehicle made its way to southbound Highway 101, where it reached speeds of 98 miles per hour, Officer Craig Smith said.

Over the course of the ensuing pursuit, the truck made its way into west Santa Rosa via Highway 12, taking various streets through town before eventually coming to a stop at Fulton Road and College Avenue, apparently because of a deflated tire caused by spikes laid down by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Healdsburg police arrested the driver, Ward, without incident and booked him into Sonoma County Jail on 10 different counts, including felony evasion, reckless evasion and weapons and drug possession, according to police.

In the second chase, a Healdsburg police officer at about 10:50 p.m. tried to stop a silver Ford Mustang traveling without its headlights on out of the 7-Eleven at Healdsburg and Powell avenues, said Sgt. Hector Altamirano. The officer sought to pull the car over, but it continued north up Healdsburg, turning left on Dry Creek Road and entering southbound Highway 101, according to Altamirano.

After reaching speeds up to 80 miles per hour, the car eventually exited the freeway and stopped on the 12000 block of Old Redwood Highway, Altamarino said.

The driver fled the scene, but the car’s four passengers, all men ages 18 to 21, remained on hand.

At least some of them drank alcohol that night, he said.

None of the passengers was arrested. The 17-year-old driver, who was unlicensed, turned himself in to Healdsburg police just after 10 a.m. Friday, Altamirano said.

“He said he was not drinking (and) that he only drove because he didn’t want the other people who had been drinking to drive,” Altamirano said.

The driver said he fled the scene Thursday night because he was scared, he said.

Police declined to release the driver’s name because of his age, but he was arrested on suspicion of evading a police officer, Altamarino said.

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com.