Crime & Safety
Driver, His Mother Both Arrested In 3-County Police Chase
Officers asked the driver and his mother to step out of the car multiple times but both refused, police said.
BAY AREA, CA — A driver and his mother were both arrested in a police pursuit Sunday through three Bay Area counties.
The chase started around 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the Napa County city of American Canyon when American Canyon police officers made a traffic stop on southbound state Highway 29 and Poco Way on a black Chevy Impala that showed no license plates.
The car was occupied by an adult male and his mom. The driver refused to show valid identification or a driver’s license to officers during the stop, claiming he was a sovereign citizen and did not have to comply with the officers' directions or laws of the government, American Canyon police said in a news release
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Officers asked the driver, later identified as 41-year-old Eddy Perez of San Pablo, and his mother, the passenger, 66-year-old Janet Perez, multiple times to step out of the car but they both refused, police said.
It is alleged that the driver sped southbound as officers were standing inside the car's open doorway, trying to take him out of the car.
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American Canyon officers pursued the Impala into the Solano County city of Vallejo, at which point a California Highway Patrol air unit joined the chase by following the car from above.
A short time later when the pursuit reached the city of Richmond in Contra Costa County, CHP Air and American Canyon ground units took both the driver and the passenger into custody.
When examining the car, officers found it had an illegal electronic license plate-flipping and concealing device installed on it.
Both Eddy Perez and his mother Janet Perez were arrested on suspicion of felony and misdemeanor charges related to the incident, including resisting an officer.
The driver, Eddy Perez, was also arrested for felony warrants out of Kern and Solano counties.
The mother and son were booked into Napa County jail.
Eddy Perez remained jailed in lieu of $295,000 bail Monday, according to jail records.
Janet Perez also remained in custody in lieu of $1,000 bail.
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