Wanted Sonoma man flees on small pink bike before arrest

A wanted man tried to make his getaway on a girl’s pink bike, and for a while did elude deputies, but the chase in Sonoma ended when he was hit with a Taser after refusing to come out of an attic, a Sonoma County sheriff’s official said.

The chase started after 4:30 p.m. on Saturday when deputies learned Alexander Edwards, 36, was at his Sonoma home, Sonoma County sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Crum said Monday.

Edwards previously had fled law enforcement nine times. On Saturday, deputies and Sonoma police met near his home to make a plan for his arrest, Crum said.

As police gathered on Cypress Road, the man appeared in his pickup, accelerating as he drove toward deputies, Crum said. Going 60-70 mph, Edwards sped by, forcing one deputy to press himself against his patrol car as the pickup approached, passing within about a foot, Crum said.

A few blocks away, at Petaluma Avenue and Arnold Drive, Edwards crashed into a ditch and ran. Deputies found the empty Ford Ranger with the driver’s door open. People standing nearby pointed toward a church, where the suspect hid in the bushes. Edwards ran again, losing deputies.

He ran through the neighborhood, jumping fences as deputies and a helicopter, aided by neighbors calling 911 to report his progress, tracked him. One caller saw the suspect steal a small pink bike and pedal out of the neighborhood, Crum said.

Edwards was arrested on suspicion of six felonies and booked into Sonoma County Jail on $200,000 bail.