Man holed up in car prompts hourslong Highway 101 shutdown north of Santa Rosa

A Geyserville man drove onto a closed stretch of Highway 101, led authorities on a pursuit that topped 100 mph and then refused to leave his car Sunday morning, prompting an hourslong shutdown of the highway just north of Santa Rosa, the CHP said.

The man, later identified by law enforcement as Eric Van Gelder, 56, was driving a white Honda Civic when he circumvented at 6:22 a.m. a CHP road closure near Geyserville, put in place to aid PG&E crews working in the area, CHP Office David deRutte said.

CHP officers and Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies followed the man as he continued southbound, deRutte said. Deputies deployed a spike strip near Windsor, and the car came to a halt north of Santa Rosa, deRutte said.

Gelder refused to step out of the car, so officials decided to shut down Highway 101 between River Road and Airport Boulevard in both directions for a few hours.

Initially, authorities weren’t sure whether Gelder was the only occupant in the car. The Sheriff’s Office brought in its hostage negotiation team and tried to communicate with him for nearly two hours, Lt. Tim Duke said.

“The person was not cooperating and was borderline incoherent,” Duke said.

After identifying the man, deputies reached out to his relatives and obtained his cellphone number. But calls to Gelder resulted in no answer or an answer followed by hanging up, Duke said. On one occasion, Gelder picked up the phone but spoke little, and at times sang along to music playing inside the car.

Once the Sheriff’s SWAT team determined Gelder was alone inside the Honda, they tried to incapacitate him with gas and a stun grenade before law enforcement officials pulled him out of the car, Duke said. The man was not believed to be seriously injured but was hospitalized, in part because deputies found drugs and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle, Duke said.

Gelder was arrested on suspicion of evading police, driving under the influence and resisting arrest.

Highway 101 reopened by 10 a.m., according to CHP.

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.