At about 2:35 am Sunday morning, a Turlock Police officer near the intersection of South Beech Street and Flower Street, Turlock, saw a vehicle which he recognized to have been stolen out of the county’s jurisdiction the day prior. The officer got behind the vehicle and attempted to make a traffic stop on its driver, later identified as Garcia Cesar, 33, of Modesto, however, Cesar accelerated to high speeds and a pursuit was initiated.
Cesar fled westbound on Flower Street from South Beech Street before crashing into the fence of Turlock Memorial Park, 575 North Soderquist Road.
Cesar then exited his vehicle and fled into the memorial park on foot. The officer chased Cesar for a minute before being able to gain his compliance and get him proned out on the ground. Assisting officers arrived and Cesar was taken into custody without further incident.
The pursuit lasted less than a minute and speeds only reached a high of approximately sixty miles per hour.
The stolen vehicle, a gray BMW sedan, sustained moderate damage. It was deemed inoperable as a result of the collision, requiring it to be towed away. In addition to the fence being struck, a stop sign was also taken out. The stop sign had an electrical component to it which led to live wires being exposed, so on-call city crews responded to secure it.
When officers conducted a records check on Cesar, they discovered that he was on post release community supervision for a prior auto theft case.
Cesar was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of flight from a peace officer with disregard to public safety, auto theft, hit and run causing property damage, resisting a peace officer, and violating post release community supervision.
