High Speed Chase Through East Bay Ends With 2 Arrests

PLEASANTON (CBS SF) -- A high-speed chase Wednesday through Pleasanton and Livermore ended with two men in police custody, police said.

Officers arrested Hector Avina, 20, of Livermore on suspicion of evading police and Nestor Travizo, 19, of Manteca, on charges of resisting an officer.

A Pleasanton police officer on patrol at around 9:30 a.m. in the area of Kottinger Drive and First Street saw a green Ford Explorer parked along the curb with several men inside, police said.

As the officer passed the vehicle, police said the driver quickly put it into drive, made a u-turn and sped away in the opposite direction of the officer.

Believing the behavior was suspicious, police said the officer turned around and pursued the Explorer, and then tried to stop the vehicle after the driver made a vehicle code violation.

The driver allegedly ignored the sirens and the officer chased him at high speeds roughly 7 miles through the streets of Pleasanton and into Livermore. Police said the driver drove through red signal lights, endangering the occupants in the car and the public.

The driver of the Explorer and the front passenger in the vehicle got out of the SUV at Yorkshire and Briarwood drives and ran from the pursuing officers, police said.

Police apprehended both suspects and arrested them.

Two teenage boys, aged 15 and 16, both of Livermore, were in the backseat of the car and did not run from officers when the car stopped. Police said they were detained during the initial investigation but later released to their parents.