Man critically injured as high-speed chase ends in crash near Cloverdale

A Redwood Valley man was critically injured when the car he was riding in crashed into a creek bed after attempting to outrun Cloverdale police, officials said Thursday.

Kyle Lawrence Byrne, 32, was airlifted from Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to Stanford Hospital on Wednesday after sustaining a broken neck and back and a torn aorta, Cloverdale Police Chief Stephen Cramer said.

Byrne was pinned inside a 2006 Chevrolet SUV that sped through a stop sign at the south end of Dutcher Creek Road, plowed through a guardrail and somersaulted over Dutcher Creek before coming to rest on the opposite bank on its hood, Cramer said.

The SUV “actually flew over the creek and into an embankment of ivy,” the chief said.

Byrne was listed in critical but stable condition Thursday, a Stanford Hospital spokeswoman said.

The driver, identified as Mary Sydney Schaefer, 32, of Ukiah, was in fair condition, a Memorial Hospital spokeswoman said.

Cloverdale police continued an investigation into the crash Thursday, including an unconfirmed report the SUV had been stolen, Cramer said.

There is no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved, he said.

At the hospital, Schaefer told police she was traveling south on Dutcher Creek Road at 100 mph when she blew past the stop sign where the road ends at an intersection with Dry Creek Road, Cramer said.

The crash occurred minutes after a Cloverdale officer attempted to pull over the SUV for going fast and passing other vehicles on South Cloverdale Boulevard heading toward town about 12:30 p.m. The driver made a U-turn at Garden Circle Way, near the city fire department.

She then sped back out of town with two officers in separate patrol cars in pursuit as the high-speed chase continued on Dutcher Creek Road.

Officers lost sight of the SUV, but witnesses later reported the vehicle had crashed into the creek bed west of Geyserville, Cramer said.

A few weeks ago, he said, the SUV would have been submerged in several feet of water flowing in the storm-swollen creek.

Schaefer was arrested on suspicion of felony evading police and cited to appear in court. Cramer said it is unclear why the driver did not stop for police.

The chief said an officer had asked the driver that question, and he said she replied, “I thought you were going to pull me over.”

“He said, ‘Well, I was,’ ” Cramer said.

Reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. Reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.