Deep readers of this site know that things were hopping in the 24/680 on January 18 and we were trying to cover it all. As usual, however, some of those stories just didn’t come together until later.
We were focused on the discovery of a car found on Minerva Way earlier in the day (shown), when alarms started going off at a local bank and citizens began dialing us with reports of armed police chasing down suspects in cars and on foot.
San Ramon Police Lt. Cary Goldberg explained that the bank robbery turned out to be a false alarm but that a heightened police presence in the area bore unexpected fruit when an officer spotted a man speeding away from the area in a Dodge Charger.
That officer gave chase, staying with the car as its driver picked up speed in an apparent effort to get away and eventually abandoned the car altogether, fleeing on foot near Morgan’s Masonry Supply in the 2200 block of San Ramon Valley Blvd.
The driver, identified by police as Robert E. Milliard, 31, of San Ramon, was subsequently arrested at gunpoint and found to be a parolee-at-large with two other warrants for his arrest (a traffic warrant and a Child Endangerment warrant out of the State of Wyoming), according to Goldberg.
The Charger had been reported stolen out of San Mateo County on January 6, police said. Milliard was booked and presumably left to ponder his bad luck at the Martinez Detention Facility.
“Unfortunately for the parolee, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time as there was no actual robbery,” Goldberg said. “However, our guys were on the lookout and he drew attention to himself by rapidly speeding away.”
flushing them like grouse!
So there’s more to the story?