By Eric Kurhi
The Oakland Tribune
FREMONT — While an extensive manhunt using several dog teams, two helicopters, an airplane and about 40 officers failed to locate a man suspected of ramming a stolen van into a motorcycle officer Monday morning, police said the intended victim looked like he was going to be OK after surgery on a broken leg.
Around 10:50 a.m., the 43-year-old motorcycle officer spotted a work van that had been reported stolen about 20 minutes earlier from a Lippert Avenue business in Warm Springs. The driver said he’d left the van to make a delivery when it was stolen.
The officer spotted the van a short distance away, near the intersection of Mission and Warm Springs boulevards. He was watching the vehicle come out of a shopping center parking lot and was near the center divider when the van suddenly accelerated straight toward him.
“After he hit (the officer), he continued to drag the him across two lanes,” Fremont police Sgt. Chris Mazzone said of the driver. “He then collided with a streetlight, trapping the officer underneath the van.”
The driver of the van got out of the disabled vehicle and ran away.
Fire officials responded with a heavy rescue truck and had to lift the van about a foot to release the officer.
The injured officer, whose name was not released, has been with the department for about 10 years, Mazzone said. He was taken to a nearby trauma center, where he remained after surgery.
Fremont officers worked with Union City, Dublin, Milpitas and BART police, as well as the California Highway Patrol and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, in the manhunt, which saw a large section of the industrial area cordoned off.
Despite the heavy response, no suspect was found as of 4 p.m. Monday, and Mazzone said it was possible that the man slipped out of the perimeter.
“It won’t be for lack of trying, that’s for sure,” he said. “But it happens. There are other ways to catch criminals.”
The driver is described as a Hispanic male, 25 to 30 years old, about 6 feet tall with a medium build. He was wearing a dark blue or black baseball cap, a reddish sweatshirt and bluejeans.
Authorities are investigating the case as an attempted murder of a police officer.
Copyright 2010 Contra Costa Newspapers