Fight Near Nave's Bar in Fairfax Leads to Wild Police Chase, Tasing and Arrest

A fight near Nave's Bar & Grill early Tuesday morning sparked a wild police chase and the eventual arrest of a San Geronimo man, a pursuit that included at least six officers and the unsuccessful deployment of a taser gun when the suspect ripped one of the dart-like electrodes off his skin, according to Fairfax Police.

Police were called to the downtown park near Nave's on Bolinas Rd. at around 3 a.m. Tuesday on a report of a fight involving men who'd been drinking at the bar, according Fairfax Police Chief Chris Morin.

When they arrived, they encountered three men – two friends who'd been fighting, Morin said, and a 38-year-old man who initially tried to break up the fight but who was then beaten so badly by at least one of the men that he had to be taken to Marin General Hospital with major facial wounds and internal injuries. The victim's wife sustained minor injuries as she tried to break up the fight.

Police cited two men, 21-year-old Matthew Morales of Woodacre and 20-year-old Cory Bostjancic of Fairfax, on suspicion of public intoxication. They were released at the scene to a sober companion pending further investigation into their involvement in the alleged beating, Morin said.

A third man, however, fled on foot, Morin said. He was eventually tracked down in the backyard of a home on Park Rd. near Fairfax Town Hall by Ross Police Officer Kevin McKendry, who joined three Central Marin Police Authority officers in assisting Fairfax with the incident, Morin said.

McKendry reached the suspect, who resisted arrest, Morin said, and deployed a taser gun to subdue the suspect. But one of the electrodes didn't stick to the suspect's skin, and the suspect ripped out the other electrode and bolted, Morin said.

Police lost sight of the suspect and ended the chase until 7:30 a.m., when they received a call from a taxi driver who reported seeing a man, shirtless and bloody, walking in the area of Cascade Drive near Hickory Road, according to Morin. He said police knew of a home in the area that the suspect might've fled to and they eventually located him there.

At 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, police arrested 21-year-old Tyler James Poppe of San Geronimo, on suspicion of felony battery with serious bodily injury, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and a probation violation. He was booked into Marin County Jail, where he remains in lieu of $20,000 bail.

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