By Ian Thompson
FAIRFIELD — The driver of a Ford truck who allegedly hit a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Thursday afternoon in Sacramento led the CHP on a chase from Citrus Heights to Fairfield before a spike strip stopped the vehicle.
The chase started on westbound Interstate 80 near Madison Avenue when the Ford truck with a Bay Cities Construction logo on the side allegedly struck the CHP motorcycle officer just before 1:20 p.m.
The officer, who was not identified, was airlifted by a CHP helicopter to the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento with unknown injuries, authorities report.
The driver fled the scene and was chased by the CHP through Yolo County and into Fairfield before he ran over a spike strip, shredding his rear left tire, and plowed into the embankment just west of the North Texas Street overpass and Manuel Campos Parkway.
According to one witness, CHP officers quickly pulled the driver out of the truck and put him into one of the several CHP cars that surrounded the disabled pickup. Onlookers on the overpass and the top of the embankment cheered and applauded the CHP officers.
“They pulled him right out of there,” one witness said.
Speeds during the chase reached 100 mph, CHP officers reported.
All four lanes of westbound Interstate 80 in Fairfield were initially blocked off during the arrest, but three of the lanes were reopened by 1:52 p.m.