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A high-speed chase ended Wednesday in the parking lot of Red Hawk Casino, but not before a police officer was assaulted.
Placerville police officers arrived at the Placerville Safeway parking lot to conduct a probation search on Paul Deocampo, 27, who had been seen in the area, a press release stated.
Officers approached Deocampo in a parked vehicle. He refused to obey commands and started to reach into his car for an unknown object. He proceeded to start his engine and an officer reached in to stop him from leaving.
Deocampo began to drive away, dragging the officer with him for about 10 feet until the officer was able to break free. The suspect sped away.
Patrol officers gave chase as Deocampo drove from Highway 50 to Mother Lode Drive at high speed, ignoring traffic lights and pursuing patrol cars with lights and sirens. He traveled westbound on Mother Lode Drive in excess of 100 mph, weaving between lanes and traffic. He then went from Shingle Springs Drive to eastbound Highway 50 at Ponderosa Road, still maintaining speeds over 100 mph.
He exited at Red Hawk Parkway, finally stopping his vehicle in the parking garage. There, he was taken into custody without further incident.
It was discovered that Deocampo’s daughter, under 2 years old, had been in a child’s seat in the back seat. “When officers approached her, she was clearly scared and her seat was tipped sideways from the radical driving,” the press release stated.
Deocampo was booked into jail on charges of violating probation, assault on an officer, felony evasion and child endangerment. He remains in custody on $90,000 bail.
The injured officer checked into Marshall Hospital and was released with minor injuries.
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Cleaver TrevorSeptember 14, 2012 - 6:36 am
After reading this story the first thing that came to mind was the reporter missed some important details. The PPD has the press release on their web site. My mistake, the reporter was dead on. Now some serious questions come up? Why did the PPD officer leave the jurisdiction of the city to do a "probation search"? Safeway is nearly a mile out of the city of Placerville. Why did the officer give chase at 100 mph with a baby in the car? Where was the supervisor? Why didn't he call off the chase, obviously must have been a rookie. Is there a policy for this type of situation? If the officer was going to do a probation search, found their "suspect" they knew for sure his identity, why would he give chase and put the child and public in harms way? Couldn't he wait and arrest this guy later? I sure hope the chief investigates the conduct here.
slippy mcgooSeptember 16, 2012 - 2:16 pm
There has to be a reason he ran, my guess is he had drugs or something and he tossed everything during he chase. I wonder if the cops saw him toss anything