Willow Road, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California, 94301
Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Oaks, San Mateo County, California, 94025
A traffic stop escalated into a car crash on Ringwood Avenue and Coleman Avenue around 5:19 p.m. on Wednesday. The suspect is being charged with multiple counts, including a hit and run, evading police, and possession and sale of marijuana and tobacco.
According to police, the event began when officers attempted to stop the 19-year-old for a traffic enforcement stop. Eyewitnesses observed the suspect being pulled over, but when officers were discussing the crime away from his car, he sped away and drove westbound on Willow Road.
“I heard it from inside the house, it was that abrupt,” Jackson Loftus, a senior at Sacred Heart Schools, said.
Police stated that officers trailed the individual down to Coleman Avenue, where he then turned left onto Ringwood Avenue
Police said that, after turning, the suspect crashed into an uninvolved moving vehicle before propelling their own car into the fence of a home off Ringwood Avenue. Junior Henry Lucianovic, who went to the incident after police drove by, noticed that a bystander in the uninvolved vehicle sustained minimal injuries but refused to be seen by medics.
The Menlo Park Police Department’s report indicates that after crashing, the suspect attempted to evade officers once again—getting out of the vehicle and running. However, officers were able to stop and arrest him.
During the suspect’s arrest, officers noted evidence suggesting possession of drugs. “There was an overwhelming amount of marijuana emanating from the vehicle,” Nicole Acker, the public information officer at the Menlo Park Police Department, said.
With further inspection, police discovered illegally possessed marijuana wrapped in cellophane inside the vehicle. “There was a plastic tube on the seat that had a picture of a marijuana leaf,” Acker said.
The suspect is facing misdemeanor charges for possessing and selling marijuana without a license to do so. He is also receiving felony charges for a hit-and-run resulting in injury and evading police, as well as misdemeanor charges for resisting an officer and selling tobacco without a license.
Police said the suspect was later taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Many students and community members from the surrounding areas noticed the incident. “I heard 10 cop cars go by my house, and I live near Burgess,” Lucianovic said. “I got to Ringwood and Toyon Road, and there was a car accident with five cop cars and then two fire trucks.”
Due to the proximity of the accident to M-A, many expressed confusion and uneasiness. “It’s in between the schools and elementary school, and it made me feel very unsafe, because my road is a pedestrian road. There’s bikers—I’m sure kids were going home,” Loftus said. “He probably blew through a stop sign, so it made me [think] ‘What could have happened if there was a kid?’ He obviously was going fast enough that he couldn’t stop in time, so he could have hit a kid. It made me feel very untrusting of the Menlo Park Police Department.”
