Police believed to be on the trail of suspected package thieves fell in behind a car on Moraga Way Friday, the driver of that car speeding off, nicking cars on Moraga Way and balancing an apparently freshly stolen push stroller on its roof as stunned motorists looked on.
Lamorinda police swarmed into downtown Moraga and into Canyon after the two occupants of the car, believed to be women who had been picking off packages on Camino Ricardo in Moraga, drove to Pinehurst and Manzanita in Canyon before abandoning their car. A search (10:39 a.m.) failed to turn up the suspects.
Police had been looking for a gray, older model Audi or Mercedes with no plates. The jogging stroller apparently fell off the Mercedes during the chase and was later recovered by police.
Orinda Police Chief Mark Nagel furnished this version of the morning’s events:
While on patrol, an Orinda Officer observed a vehicle that matched the description of a package theft suspect vehicle on Moraga Way. The suspect saw the Orinda patrol vehicle and fled on Moraga Way towards Moraga. The officer terminated the short pursuit due to the reckless suspect driving. The suspect vehicle clipped the side view window of two civilian cars while fleeing. There were no injuries. The suspect vehicle was later found abandoned on Pinehurst Road at the border of Oakland. Stolen property was recovered from the vehicle.
So, that’s it. A nice, quiet morning in Lamorinda. Never, ever schedule an appointment to have lunch with friends.
Paper plates again! I think we need to change these License Plate Reader cameras to notify police anytime there’s a paper plate so they can kind of check those out!
This one is scattered and confusing and filled with colorful characters… we were hoping for a nice, quiet lunch with pals but… nooooooo… We’re on it.
agree with Greg
Are there new rules these days regarding police car chases? There seem to be a lot of stories these days about suspect cars outrunning cops… I support the cops 100% but cmon I thought that’s what those Chargers were for..
We don’t speak for the police but our impression is that they are given to terminate a chase if the fleeing person takes aggressive action, e.g. drives the wrong way or onto sidewalks and such. We believe most police are hardwired to catch bad people but there is a protocol in place to terminate a chase if the public is threatened.
I haven’t seen an Orinda Police Charger patrol car. The safety of the public probably outweighs catching some package thieves.
Was the jogging stroller capable of carrying a really BIG baby? I think I may have deducked a common thread to these recent Lamorinda burglaries.
Sure got everybody’s attention.
If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny.