Two Arrested After Mountain View High-Speed Car Chase

After a high-speed pursuit through local highways that began as a traffic stop, the Mountain View Police arrested two San Jose men Thursday night, police officials reported Friday.

The driver David Antonio Perez, 31, and Vance Edmond Howeth, 46, were booked into the San Jose Main Jail for possession of a stolen vehicle, failure to yield, hit and run, and theft with a prior, according to department spokesman Sgt. Sean Thompson. Howeth was additionally placed on a parole hold and Perez was additionally charged with resisting an officer.

The incident began around 8 p.m. during a traffic stop of the 1995 Honda Civic that Perez drove at the intersection of El Camino Real and Grant Road. The officer stopped the car for possibly being stolen.

Perez failed to yield to the officer and instead drove onto Highway 237 and then entered Highway 85. The police officer initiated the pursuit.

The Honda then exited the highway at the Moffett Boulevard off-ramp, collided with a car stopped at the light, careened off the road and struck a Traffic Control Box shutting down the power to the intersection, Thompson explained.

Perez left the car and when into the Stevens Creek area. Howeth was detained at the scene.

"With the help of a witness, Perez was located and arrested at the Quality Inn on Evandale Avenue shortly thereafter," Thompson said. 

Howeth was transported to a local hospital for a complaint of pain. No one else, including the driver struck by the Honda, was injured during this incident.