Driver dies after police chase ends in fiery crash near Healdsburg

A driver died in a fiery crash near Healdsburg on Sunday morning after he fled a California Highway Patrol officer who was trying to pull him over for speeding, authorities said.

The crash triggered the closure of Westside Road near Sweetwater Springs Road for several hours while authorities investigated.

The incident began shortly before 10 a.m., when a CHP officer monitoring traffic on Highway 101 in the Geyserville area spotted a Mercedes-Benz sedan going about 130 mph on the southbound side of the freeway, according to CHP spokesman Officer David deRutte.

The officer, who was on the northbound side when his radar gun read the car’s speed, made a U-turn and tried to pull the driver over, according to the CHP. He chased the driver south to the Dry Creek Road exit, where the driver got off the freeway and went south on Kinley Drive before turning onto Westside.

As he chased the driver south on Westside, the officer noticed that one tire on the Mercedes-Benz was “low or flat or gone,” deRutte said.

The officer lost sight of the car and found it wrecked along a curve on Westside just south of the intersection with Boehm Road. The driver had crashed into a tree, according to deRutte.

The officer tried to pull the driver from the car before it caught fire but he was unsuccessful, deRutte said.

Firefighters with the Healdsburg Fire Department extinguished the blaze.

The driver, who was the only person inside the car, was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities have not released his name.

No other injuries were reported.