Pursuit ends with car crashing into Santa Rosa gas station

Flying through a Santa Rosa intersection late Friday, a speeding BMW sedan became airborne after hitting a curb, launching it into a College Avenue combination gas station and sandwich shop where it lodged in the wall a few feet off the ground.

The suspected drunken driver climbed out and ran but was caught a few blocks away, thanks to witnesses who helped officers with his location, according to the CHP.

CHP officers arrested Horacio Hernandez-?Martinez, 33, of Santa Rosa, on suspicion of felony DUI, evading officers, hit-and-run and giving a false name.

He also did not have a driver’s license and was on probation for a prior conviction involving DUI, hit-and-run and driving without a license, said CHP Officer Steve Fricke Monday. CHP officers patrolling Highway 101 just before midnight Saturday saw a speeding BMW and began to pull over the southbound driver.

The driver instead took the College Avenue exit at a fast speed and drove straight across the large intersection and crashed in the Arco store, which holds a Subway sandwich shop, Fricke said. The officers, in one patrol car a little behind the 2005 BMW, didn’t see the crash and turned westbound to look for the driver.

Calls about the crash brought Santa Rosa firefighters who found the car’s rear sticking out of the building but no driver. Officers searching for the car were redirected. They arrested Hernandez-?Martinez at College Avenue and Maxwell Drive, Fricke said.

The damage to the building was significant, forcing the business to close at least temporarily Sunday.