High Speed Chase Spanning Two Mother Lode Counties Dead Ends
Jamestown, CA – A high-speed chase that spanned two Mother Lode counties reached speeds topping 75 mph with the suspect allegedly racing into oncoming traffic along one stretch of roadway.
A Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Deputy spied a vehicle with a cracked windshield on Golf Links Road in the Jamestown area just after 9 p.m. on Thursday. A check of the plates showed they were stolen. When the deputy tried to pull over the vehicle, the driver, Austin Lee Wilson, took off with two female passengers inside.
While in pursuit, Wilson drove on the wrong side of the roadway and failed to stop at three stop signs, relays Sheriff’s spokesperson Lt. David Vasquez. He also revealed that while on Parrotts Ferry Road, Wilson droving into oncoming traffic, but luckily no collision occurred.
Several miles later near a vineyard off Highway 4 in the Murphys area of Calaveras County the chase suddenly ended about an hour after it began. Lt. Vasquez explains, “During the pursuit, it could be due to unfamiliarity of the area that Wilson had driven into a dead end. So, there was nowhere else to go, the end of the road.”
Wilson then jump out of the vehicle and began running, but he did not get far as by this time the deputy was backed up by three of his own and several deputies from Calaveras Sheriff’s Office along with CHP officers.
Among the possible charges, Wilson could face is evading with disregard, suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle and plates.
Lt. Vasquez relayed that due to the state’s coronavirus zero bail mandate, Wilson was released.
The two women passengers were not taken into custody. The case remains under investigation.
