Crime & Safety

CHP-fleeing Car Drives into Berkeley Lagoon – Man Nabbed After Swim Escape Attempt

A 50-year-old man from San Francisco drove his car into a lagoon at Aquatic Park in Berkeley Tuesday night and tried to swim away after he got into a argument, smashed his car into a gas station and fled from the CHP, authorities said.

By Bay City News Service

A man was arrested Tuesday night after smashing his car into a gas station in San Francisco, then fleeing across the Bay Bridge and driving into the water at Berkeley's Aquatic Park, police said Wednesday.

The incident began shortly after 10 p.m. when Mick Lee, a 50-year-old San Francisco resident, got into an argument with a homeless person at the Chevron gas station at Sixth and Harrison streets in the city's South of Market neighborhood, police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said.

The transient allegedly slashed a tire on Lee's vehicle, causing him to go into the gas station to complain, police said. He then went back out to his car, still upset over the incident, and rammed the car twice into the door of the station before fleeing, Esparza said.

California Highway Patrol officers tried to stop Lee near Seventh and Bryant streets but he refused to pull over, driving across the Bay Bridge to the East Bay, according to police and the CHP.

The vehicle then exited Interstate Highway 80 at Shellmound Street
and ended up driving into the water at Aquatic Park near Ashby Avenue, CHP
officials said.

Lee tried to swim away from the car but was arrested a short time later, according to the CHP.

He was booked into jail by San Francisco police on suspicion of vandalism, felony evading arrest and hit-and-run, Esparza said.

Copyright © 2012 by Bay City News, Inc. – Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.    


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