When the dreadful commotion began on Santa Rosa Avenue that Sunday nine days ago, Andy Brewster was inside Steel Deli & Liquor, buying a can of beer.
Brewster is a 47-year-old trucker who came to Sonoma County recently to care for his ailing mother. He heard a woman shout, “Halt! Freeze!” and he looked out the store to see a uniformed police officer get hit by a car and thrown into the air as she chased a man across the four-lane avenue.
“It was terrible,” Brewster said. Next he saw that the fleeing man was heading toward the Steel Deli parking lot. I watched the store’s security video on Monday and saw Brewster run to intercept the man.
Brewster, who’s 6-2 and 200 pounds, stood in the smaller guy’s path and told him, “Where do you think you’re going?” Then he grabbed the man, took him down and pinned his arms behind him. Read more…
Badly injured police officer Lucia Wade, who was struck by a car last Sunday as she chased a robbery suspect across Santa Rosa Avenue, was able to ask a question at the hospital the other day.
“Did they catch him?” She was happy to hear that, yes, the suspect was tackled by a helpful citizen and is now in jail.
Wade is improving and before long may be up to reading some of the get-well cards and letters that are piling up. Brien Farrell, the former city attorney who’s now teaching at Elsie Allen High, has alone delivered more than 175 notes of thanks and encouragement from students. Read more…
source: pressdemocrat.com
The condition of a hospitalized Santa Rosa police officer who was struck by a car while pursuing a robbery suspect Sunday has improved from critical to serious, police said this afternoon.
Lucia Wade, 38, has improved and is expected to survive her injuries, Sgt. Lisa Banayat said. She cannot have flowers or visitors, Banayat said.
“The Police Department appreciates the many inquiries from the community and allied police agencies,” Banayat said in a news release.
Wade, a six-year Police Department employee and an officer for three years, was struck by a BMW on Santa Rosa Avenue around 5:30 p.m. Sunday as she chased 43-year-old Manuel Santiago of Santa Rosa. Read more…
source: pressdemocrat.com
A Santa Rosa police officer remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday, two days after being struck by a car while chasing a robbery suspect, authorities said Tuesday.
Officer Lucia Wade, a three-year veteran of the department, suffered major head injuries in the Sunday incident.
“She is still stable and people are very hopeful,” Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat said Tuesday.
Wade had spotted the suspect, Manuel Santiago, 43 — whose picture was circulating on a crime bulletin — in the parking lot of a Denny’s Restaurant on Santa Rosa Avenue.
As he fled, she chased him across Santa Rosa Avenue, and was hit by a northbound car when she was nearly across the street; she was thrown into the windshield and then to the pavement. Read more…
source: google.com
A Santa Rosa police officer was struck by a car and seriously injured as she chased a suspect on foot across Santa Rosa Avenue on Sunday shortly after 5:30 p.m.
A black BMW hit the officer, who smashed into the windshield and was thrown several feet to the pavement. She lay unresponsive with a severe head injury, according to eyewitnesses.
The officer, who police refused to identify, was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
The chase began in the parking lot of Denny’s after the officer recognized a man wanted in connection with a felony crime, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department.
The suspect fled, leaving the Denny’s lot and running across the Chevron gas station where he entered traffic on Santa Rosa Avenue near the Colgan Avenue intersection.
The officer pursued him. She had nearly crossed the busy street when she was hit by the northbound BMW. Read more…
