A Yolo Superior Court judge sentenced a 27-year-old Sacramento man to three years’ probation and 328 days in county jail for his role in a November high-speed pursuit from Woodland to the Sacramento International Airport area.
Arnold Parker was convicted by a Yolo County jury on Feb. 25 of evading a police officer with reckless driving and resisting a peace officer. Judge David Rosenberg handed down his sentence on Friday.
On Nov. 20, 2019, officers from the Woodland Police Department were called to the Motel 6 in response to a gun found in the defendant’s room. Officers learned that the defendant had recently been placed on felony probation and attempted to contact him.
Parker was located in the front of the motel with his car running. He refused to follow officers orders and fled in his vehicle, driving onto Main Street at a high rate of speed with motorcycle officers in pursuit.
Parker ran a stop light and merged onto southbound Interstate 5. There, he accelerated to over 100 miles per hour and passed numerous vehicles on both the right and left shoulders in an attempt to evade the officers. He continued southbound, crossing into Sacramento County where he continued his reckless driving.
Eventually, Parker exited I-5 at the airport and began driving through farm fields. He then drove through a fence and abandoned his car on the side of the freeway, facing the wrong direction, and attempted to hide in blackberry bushes 100 yards away from the car. Once he was located, the defendant refused to come out of the bushes.
Parker was eventually apprehended by members of the Woodland Police Department, Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol and other local law-enforcement agencies.