Lamorinda police, supported by officers from nearby jurisdictions, sealed off an area around Larch Ave. in Moraga after an early-morning pursuit through Orinda and into Moraga ended in a crash and foot chase.
The incident started at 3:12 a.m. when an Orinda police officer spotted a truck with two men aboard and began tailing it when the driver accelerated, hitting speeds topping 90 mph southbound on Moraga Way and into Moraga.
Officers from Orinda and Moraga were behind the white Ford F-250 when it crashed in the area of De La Cruz Way and Canyon Road and the two occupants, one described as an Asian male, 6′, medium build with long hair, fled on foot – possibly into a nearby residence.
Officers surrounded the general area and went door-to-door, searching the backyards of homes on Larch Ave. and Roberts Ct. – and even St. Monica’s Church after finding indications the suspects had run through the area.
Police suspended their search for the suspects as dawn approached, towing away the abandoned and heavily damaged Ford pickup from where it came to rest at Canyon Road and De La Cruz Way.
Preliminary indications are that the truck had been reported stolen earlier in Concord.
Nice flash alert!!! 4 am!!!! thans for info. wow
screamed down Moraga way this morning, Crazy!
Wow!! thanks for flash! woke us up!! heard the sirens!
WTf Where???
Seriously?
Trying to make it into Canyon again?? Like that other guy?? Did they ever find him???
He was definitely headed in that direction…
Police on mount diablo right now??
Thanks for heads up
Got our first alert on this at 3:20 am. Very fast. My brother is signing up today!
Anything more on the three on Tahos??
Doing a little Christmas shopping?
I had a phone stolen out of my garage steps away from St. Monicas on Saturday 12/12 morning. Activity on the phone started at 5:53 am to 7:53 am with numerous repeated calls to a number in the northeastern section of Walnut Creek that borders Concord. Seems far too coincidental.
Mr. Rasilla: Thank you for writing. We would agree with your observation, and trust you notified the police about this development. Our initial impression of this incident included the assessment that these two men had done this sort of thing before. Stealing and using a phone found in the garage of a home they had hoped to find cover in suggests an attempt to secure a ride out of the area. Fascinating bit of information and thank you for writing us with it. Sorry to hear about the loss of your phone.
Are police aware of the outgoing pick me up calls???
We notified police immediately upon discovery of this however they’ve shown little interest in following up. The garage door opener taken out of my wifes car and used to open the garage door was found thrown in our side yard. I emailed Moraga PD the call records. Most calls are to that northeastern area of walnut creek. There was 1 call to Danville and 1 call to the Los Angeles. After the last call on 12/12 @ 7:53 am there’s no activity til 12:40 am 12/13 then there’s 1 call to San Jose & 1 call to Sacramento and 1 return call from both those numbers. Text messages continue til nearly 4am then activity ceases. The phone has been set to lost mode now and shows as offline. If it connects to the internet I’ll be able to discover it’s location.
Unnerving. Were you at home that morning? Hear the chase? Any resultant noises?
That’s pretty creepy. Can you tell where the calls were made from?
We were home when it occurred and normally hear the garage door open. It could be a blessing we didn’t hear it as I would’ve gone out there most likely armed and who knows how traumatic this morning could’ve become. I didn’t know anything about the incident til later that day when I went to use my wifes garage door opener and it wasn’t there. The phone was a spare so I didn’t notice that til the next day when I was sitting at my desk. The phone which is set in lost mode was turned on today at 6:15pm and immediately locked and reported it’s location at Todos Santos Park in Concord. Considering that the truck they wrecked in Moraga was stolen from Concord. The calls made on the phone were mostly to near the Concord area and now the phone reports it’s location right in downtown Concord tonight. There’s no question in my mind that the this incidents are related.
It may well have been a blessing and we are grateful you and yours were not harmed in any way. This has proven interesting in that people on both end of this incident have checked in with us now, yourself and the person whose purse was apparently stolen at the beginning of this incident. Grateful for your input and hope we’re able to sort this one out…
Interesting to see how this developed – and how people were for the most part completely unaware it was happening.
Amazing how many people didn’t know this was happening. I though all the sirens would wake everyone up?
I’m not surprised people didn’t know this was happening. People are sound to sleep at that hour, and windows are closed at night. It’s chilly out. I’m glad no one was hurt…
From what I’ve heard from the police another resident getting in his car to head to work recognized a heavy odor of cigarette smoke in his car so and it’s determined the perpetrators holed up in his car and another resident reported seeing two guys getting picked up in the area by another vehicle. I think there’s a good chance that whomever picked those guys up was called on my stolen phone and their number appears in the call log.