Chase through downtown leaves Fairfield officer, city worker injured
By Daily Republic
June 27, 2017
FAIRFIELD, CA — A call Monday to investigate a possible impaired driver ended with two city vehicles damaged, two city workers — one a police officer – injured and two people in jail.
Two people inside a Ford pickup truck were reported as acting in a suspicious manner shortly before noon in a business parking lot on the 1300 block of North Texas Street. The caller told dispatchers that the driver appeared to be impaired in some way and not fit to drive, according to a police press release.
The truck left the parking lot, allegedly driving over the sidewalk before officers arrived. Police found the pickup truck stopped in the roadway on Texas Street at Jefferson Street.
An officer approached the vehicle and told the driver to turn off the vehicle. Police said in the release that the driver refused and drove west on Texas Street. The truck stopped again in the roadway at Texas and Madison streets.
As an officer pulled up to the truck, the driver put the truck in reverse and hit the front of the officer’s patrol car, pulled the pickup forward and then backed into the patrol car once again with such acceleration that the pickup’s tires lost traction and began to spin and smoke, according to the release.
The driver then sped away west on Texas Street.
The pickup turned south on Pennsylvania Avenue with three police vehicles in close pursuit, moved right as if to pull over, then sped away, headed toward Highway 12. Other officers raced to the area as the situation unfolded.
Police said the driver ran a red light at Woolner Avenue and hit a city Public Works Department vehicle, continued south and crossed Highway 12. Police said the truck hit another patrol car south of Highway 12, then headed north back toward Highway 12.
The vehicle stopped at the intersection, where officers took the driver and a passenger into custody – both after a struggle, according to the press release.
Veronica L. Byrne, 30, of San Francisco was identified as the driver. She was booked into the county jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, hit and run causing injury, driving under the influence causing injury and evading police with disregard for safety, all felonies, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor. Bail was a combined $70,000.
Carlos M. Gomez Jr., 42, of Vacaville, was identified as the passenger. He was booked on suspicion of disorderly conduct-being under the influence, and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors. Bail was a combined $5,000.
Jail records indicate Byrne and Gomez are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
The driver of the Public Works vehicle and the police officer involved in the crash south of Highway 12 were transported to NorthBay Medical Center where police said they were treated and released. Their names were not released. Police described the injuries to both the Public Works worker and the police officer as moderate. Police scanner traffic during the incident indicated the police officer may have broken his arm.
It is possible that her fiance left her and that is why she got drunk, find a Mexican and smashed the cars and injured the city workers.