A man was arrested in Piedmont on Nov. 6 after being found driving a stolen Ford Ranger. The incident began at 4:08 p.m. when the city’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) system recorded a hit on a stolen blue 2005 Ford Ranger pickup at Grand and Wildwood Avenues.
Police responded and found the vehicle parked and unoccupied in the Ace Hardware parking lot. Police accessed the store’s video footage and then located a suspect inside the store, according to Piedmont Police Department Captain Chris Monahan.
The vehicle was found to be stolen out of Oakland and the male suspect was found to have a warrant out of Mendocino County for narcotics violations, according to Captain Monahan. The suspect was taken into custody and first taken to Alta Bates Hospital for ingesting possible fentanyl, according to Captain Monahan. He was cleared and then taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and booked for false identity, probation violations, possession of narcotics
and possession of the stolen vehicle.
On Nov. 8, a vehicle crashed into a home on Park Lane. The call came in at 6:28 p.m. The vehicle was a truck with a trailer and a forklift. The driver told police he had lost control of the vehicle. He also denied consuming any alcohol but that he had been addicted to heroin in the past and was now taking Suboxone, according to Captain Monahan. The driver did not have a card validating that he was in a treatment program, the Captain said.
Police determined that the driver was showing signs of being under the influence of a narcotic, Captain Monahan said. He was arrested for driving under the influence and driving while addicted. A search of the vehicle turned up suspected black tar heroin, drug paraphernalia and Narcan, Captain Monahan said. He was taken to Santa Rita Jail and the truck and trailer were towed.
A man was arrested in the early morning of Nov. 9 on Wildwood Avenue. He was seen by an officer just before midnight the previous day at the Shell station, looking around with a flashlight,” Captain Monahan said. He told the officer he had smoked methamphetamine and had some in his bag, according to Captain Monahan.
A search found .85 grams of suspected methamphetamine and a glass pipe with residue. He was arrested and cited for possession of narcotics, possession of paraphernalia and being under the influence.
On Nov. 10, a suspicious black GMC Yukon with no license plates was reported near Crocker Avenue and Hampton Road at 9:22 a.m. Police arrived on the scene and found a maroon Chevrolet 1500 parked behind the reported vehicle with two people inside wearing masks, according to Captain Monahan. A suspect then ran from the Yukon and entered the 1500.
All three then fled the scene and failed to yield for a traffic stop, according to Captain Monahan. The Yukon was towed and later determined to have been stolen out of San Leandro.
In a social media post on Nov. 15, police said that dispatch received an ALPR notification of a stolen black Kia Sedona entering town around 4:15 a.m that morning. The vehicle was located on Somerset Road by officers and the driver of the Kia intentionally struck two patrol units, pushing one unoccupied unit down Somerset before becoming lodged on the roadway. Officers responded on foot and took both occupants into custody.
The suspects were arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of methamphetamine, and resisting arrest.