A routine traffic stop near San Leandro spiraled into a freeway crash and a tense SWAT standoff Thursday morning after a blue Ford Mustang refused to pull over, sped the wrong way down eastbound Interstate 580, and slammed into another car near 164th Avenue. Both occupants of the Mustang and the driver of the vehicle they hit were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and the freeway was shut down in both directions for more than two hours.
According to a CBS Sacramento report, the incident began around 11:25 a.m. when an Alameda County Sheriff’s Office deputy tried to stop the Mustang for a traffic violation. The driver failed to yield, and rather than chase the car onto the freeway, deputies backed off and shifted to overhead tracking, according to the East Bay Times. The sheriff’s office located the Mustang using an automated license plate reader and deployed a drone to keep visual contact with the car as it fled, per the same report.
The decision not to pursue didn’t stop the danger. The Mustang went the wrong way on eastbound I-580 before colliding with another vehicle near 164th Avenue, and California Highway Patrol officers attempted a high-risk stop as the situation unfolded, the East Bay Times reports. The Mustang eventually became disabled near 150th Avenue, setting up a standoff that would stretch on for roughly half an hour.
Standoff Ends With Armored Vehicles and Chemical Irritant
Once the car was disabled, its occupants initially refused commands to get out. The San Leandro Police Department assisted with an armored rescue vehicle, and the sheriff’s office special response unit responded with two armored rescue vehicles of its own, according to the East Bay Times report. The passenger surrendered at about 12:26 p.m., but the driver continued to refuse commands to exit, prompting authorities to deploy a chemical irritant to gain compliance. The driver finally got out of the car at about 12:51 p.m…