By Demian Bulwa
The San Francisco Chronicle
ALAMEDA COUTY, Calif. — Two young men were killed and a woman was in grave condition after the car in which they were riding sped away from Alameda County sheriff’s deputies in Hayward early Wednesday, ran a red light and blasted through the undercarriage of a Safeway big rig, police said.
The collision around 12:15 a.m. sheared off the truck’s diesel tank. The fleeing car’s driver, identified as 22-year-old Leo Olguin of Hayward, suffered only minor injuries.
Olguin, who was on parole in connection with a carjacking he committed as a juvenile, was arrested. He is being tested for possible intoxication and could face charges as serious as murder, police said. A handgun was also found in the car.
A fifth person in the car, a woman, was hospitalized with moderate injuries. The Safeway rig driver was unhurt. Authorities have not yet identified any of the people involved in the crash besides Olguin, and are investigating why the Mazda sedan was fleeing from police.
The incident started as two deputies in a patrol car looked for drunken drivers in and around Hayward as part of a holiday enforcement team. They spotted the Mazda driving erratically near Mission Boulevard and Smalley Avenue, swerving into opposing lanes and running stop signs, Sheriff’s Department spokesman J.D. Nelson said.
He said the Mazda made a few turns and ended up driving northeast on A Street at 40 to 45 mph, followed by the deputies, who turned on their flashing lights and sirens.
The Mazda ran a red light at Mission Boulevard, got a green light at Main Street and then sped through a red light at Foothill Boulevard at 55 to 60 mph, Nelson said.
It was the Safeway truck, heading northwest on Foothill, that had the green light, Nelson said. The Mazda went all the way under the rear trailer before hitting a traffic signal post and coming to rest in front of a corner copy shop.
“It’s the most amazing thing you have ever seen,” Nelson said of the crash, which rendered the car almost unrecognizable.
One passenger was pronounced dead at the scene. Another died soon afterward at a hospital.
Nelson defended the deputies’ decision to chase the car. Unlike some other Bay Area police agencies, the Sheriff’s Department does not have a policy that bars deputies from initiating high-speed pursuits.
Nelson said the deputies “did what they were supposed to do” during a pursuit that lasted less than a minute. They notified supervisors over their radio, describing the car and the reason they were pursuing it, and giving a summary of road conditions in the area, he said.
Deputies or their supervisors have “called off pursuits many times because they were dangerous,” Nelson said. “But in this case, it happened so quickly, I don’t think there was a chance for anyone to even decide definitively if the pursuit should continue.”
Copyright 2009 San Francisco Chronicle