Cuffed Crash Victim: Fleeing Suspect Was Struck by I-80 Traffic
By Kimberly K. Fu/Staff Writer
A Sacramento man, restrained in handcuffs, was killed early Tuesday in Dixon after resisting arrest on suspicion of DUI, running onto the freeway and being struck by a sport utility vehicle, authorities said.
Shaun Jones, 26, suffered multiple blunt force trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.
At 1:08 a.m., two California Highway Patrol officers stopped a speeding 1986 Cadillac Deville on eastbound Interstate 80 just east of Dixon Avenue. The car had been traveling at 96 mph in a 65 mph zone, officials said.
The driver, later identified as Jones, was found to be driving under the influence and he was handcuffed. The situation then went awry before Jones was placed in the patrol car.
"They started searching him and the guy just bolted," said Officer Marvin Williford, CHP spokesman. "He got as far as 2/10ths of a mile and the guy booked a U-turn."
Because traffic was light, Williford said, an officer ran after Jones on the shoulder while the other officer followed in the car.
Jones managed to safely cross all four eastbound lanes, and then vaulted over the center divider.
As soon as he entered the westbound fast lane, Jones was fatally struck by a 2004 Ford Expedition driven by Fairfield resident Leila Robinson, 42.
"He skidded across the lanes and into the weeds on the shoulder," Williford said, adding that Jones traveled about 50 feet from the point of impact.
Robinson was not at fault for the tragic accident and neither were either of the officers, he said, who followed procedure to the letter.
Jones' motivation for fleeing was not known, though Williford would say that the man had an extensive criminal history spanning about eight years and several counties.
"It doesn't happen often, but it does happen," he said, of offenders who run from officers. "The fight or flight impulse is a good one."
Article courtesy of http://www.thereporter.com/
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