One killed, five injured in Vallejo police pursuit

VALLEJO – One person in a car fleeing Vallejo police was killed in a crash  early Saturday morning which also injured five other people, including two bystanders. 

The pursuit started when Vallejo police officers attempted to pull over a dark gray Mercedes near Sonoma Boulevard and Lemon Street just before 1 a.m. Saturday, according to a police press release. 

When the Mercedes did not stop, an officer pursued the vehicle north on Sonoma Boulevard and reported that the vehicle was traveling at 75 miles per hour. It collided with a blue Subaru at the intersection of Sonoma and Tennessee, according to dispatch communications.

Marissa Serafino said she saw the crash as she was walking down Sonoma Boulevard near the intersection when the collision occurred. 

“I saw the Mercedes, with no headlights on, speeding down Sonoma with the cops right behind it then I heard the sound of the crash and looked to see the Mercedes spin out and hit the pole super hard,” Serafino said. “The Subaru was on fire and I could see one person getting out of the vehicle.”

Another witness said that an officer administered CPR to the driver of the Mercedes but it did not appear to be effective.

Police said that officers and the Vallejo Fire Department provided medical aid to the occupants of both vehicles but one person in the Mercedes was pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency vehicles transported the two occupants of the Subaru and three other occupants from the Mercedes to local hospitals, according to dispatch communications.

Officers found four firearms in the Mercedes, according to police dispatch audio, and a witness said that one of the occupants was wearing a ski mask.

Police apprehended a murder suspect in a second pursuit later that day. A driver did not pull over on Curtola Parkway for a traffic stop related to a vehicle code violation according to the police.

The pursuit ended near Cherry Street and Grant Street when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the gate of a residence. Police officers identified the driver as Corey Warren, who had a warrant for arrest as a suspect in an Oct. 5 fatal shooting on Fairgrounds Drive at Valle Vista Avenue.

The latest fatal crash comes as the Vallejo Police Department is seeking to reduce the number of crashes related to police pursuits after an internal report found that the number of pursuits have dramatically increased since 2020. Two bystanders were killed in pursuits involving Vallejo police last year.

Deaths and serious injuries related to police pursuits have raised concerns among Vallejo community members about the safety of drivers and bystanders during high speed chases. 

Hudson Joseph Stanley was killed after a driver fleeing police at speeds reaching 90 miles per hour hit his pick-up truck causing it to flip over on Springs Road in August 2023. 

A month and a half later a 76-year-old man died from his injuries after being crushed between two vehicles when a vehicle involved in a high speed chase crashed into two parked cars on Carolina Street.

The Vallejo police report recommended that supervisors consider factors that have a higher likelihood of resulting in a crash in their decision to continue a pursuit, such as incidents at night, on weekends and when a driver is speeding or driving erratically.

A recent investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle found that pursuits have risen nationally since 2020. At least 3,336 people were killed in police vehicle pursuits from 2017 through 2022, including at least 1,377 people in 2020 and 2021. At least 551 of the people who died, or 27%, were bystanders, the Chronicle found.

In September 2023, the Police Executive Research Forum and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services published a report on pursuits that recommended agencies take on more restrictive policies.

According to the report, a study of 56 agencies between 2001 and 2007 found that 23.5% of pursuits had some kind of negative outcome, such as accidents involving an injury or property damage; 9% of pursuits caused an injury to an officer, bystander or suspect.

“These data suggest that engaging in a pursuit may not always be worth the risks, particularly when a pursuit is not necessary to apprehend a suspect,” the report stated. “Rather than assuming the risks of a pursuit, for example, an officer might collect vehicle license plate information to apprehend the suspect later.”