3 Women Lead Police On Long Chase Across Bay Area

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HAYWARD (AP) -- Three young women led law enforcement officers on a 72-mile car chase across the San Francisco Bay Area that left a police officer seriously injured.

Twenty-year-old Chartanae Lovely, 21-year-old Davida Fortenbelow, and 22-year-old Laje Ford, ran from police from Hollister to Hayward, where the California Highway Patrol arrested them on Wednesday afternoon.

Hollister police first tried to pull the women over when they fled. Police Sgt. Mike Patty was one of the pursuers until his patrol car crashed into a civilian car in Hollister.

Hollister police Chief David Westrick tells KSBW-TV the vehicles were badly mangled and it was a scary scene. Patty was in serious condition and the woman driving the other car was treated at a hospital.

The women are suspected of stealing thousands of dollars from a store in Hollister before they fled.

It's not clear whether they have attorneys who can comment.