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Dash Down Diablo – Police Pursue Suspected Bike Thief Off The Mountain Saturday

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Photo Courtesy Kurt Smith

Officers from several local law enforcement agencies converged on Mt. Diablo State Park after park officials interrupted a suspected bicycle thief practicing his trade at the Summit Visitor Center Saturday.

A park officer pursued the suspect’s Chevy S10 down the mountain and onto Castle Rock Road, where officers from Walnut Creek and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Deputies took up the pursuit south on Castle Rock Road, the suspect – described thinly as a white male in his 50s wearing a hoodie – crashing through trail gates and past startled trail walkers, until he crashed near the Pine Canyon nature walk and apparently abandoned his truck.

Kurt Smith Photo (Biker looks back at abandoned truck.)

Several law enforcement vehicles, ill-equipped for an off-road pursuit, pulled up the area and officers surrounded the truck, calling for the suspect to come out. Before long, however, they realized that their suspect had abandoned the truck and taken off down one of the many trails in the area on his purloined bicycle.

Hiker Kurt Smith, in the area for a morning walk with friends, reported: “We were hiking and had to stop till they got the K9 to clear the car. The guy was long gone but he dropped his wallet so they will find him soon. How he got all the way back there is amazing…”

16 COMMENTS

  1. I can’t believe WCPD (1) couldn’t intercept a perp descending Mt. Diablo (like, spike strips, roadblock and … maybe even LOCKING THE EXIT GATE!) and (2) lost a perp fleeing down a dead end country road in a steep canyon.

    Bear in mind, this is a guy who was dumb enough to steal bikes atop a 4,000 foot peak with JUST ONE STEEP, NARROW AND CURVY egress on which to escape. Just amazing.

    #Incompetence!

      • Hmm. The 11-mile descent from the summit to the North Gate Entrance Station would take at least 15-minutes if he was averaging 45 mph. While theoretically possible, successful execution would test the skills of a trained race car driver in Porsche 911 and require miracle of physics for an aging delinquent in an S-10.

        Let’s grant, arguendo, that this perp could average 30 mph down the mountain (still a charitable assumption). The constabulary had 22 minutes. It’s a narrow two lane road with no shoulder and a gate. How do you not secure the egress?

  2. @Campo – there are actually 2 paved roads down, the sheriff did quickly respond and that’s why in this criminal mastermind’s brilliant plan he decided to off-road his truck 🤣. I think he was such a dumb-dumb and his moves were so unpredictable that this was unprecedented. 🤷‍♂️

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