Search Continues for Suspect in High-Speed Chase

Bay City News Service — Police are searching for a suspect who led California Highway Patrol officers on a high-speed chase along Interstate Highway 880 early Monday morning, resulting in a two-hour closure of a stretch of the roadway.

The chase began around 3:30 a.m. when a CHP officer initiated an enforcement stop on a van matching a stolen vehicle description issued an hour earlier by the Hayward Police Department.

The driver of the stolen van did not stop and sped away along northbound Highway 880 in Hayward, racing at speeds of up to 110 miles per hour, said CHP Officer R. Crawford.

At around 3:50 a.m., CHP officers closed both sides of Highway 880 near 66th Avenue as the chase continued. The suspect then exited the highway, crashed through a fence and tried to re-enter the highway before exiting the van and leaving it to roll toward the highway's center median, Crawford said.

Despite a nearly two-hour search of the area, officers were unable to locate the driver of the van and do not have a suspect description. Officers called off the search and reopened the roadway just before 6 a.m. today.

Crawford said morning commute traffic was backed up because of the road closures, but returned to normal at around 7:30 a.m.

Crawford urged anyone who might have information about the stolen vehicle to contact the Hayward Area CHP Office at 510-489-1500.