Monterey: Truck pursued by police plunges off wharf with four people inside

The pickup truck of a driver allegedly fleeing police ended up in Monterey Bay, along with its four occupants.

The green Chevrolet pickup was noticed around 1:30 a.m. Sunday by Monterey police officers on foot; it had turned the wrong way onto a one-way street. The foot officers notified a patrol unit, and that officer pulled over the truck on Municipal Wharf 2.

The driver initially stopped for the officer but then sped off toward the end of the wharf, the police said.

The officer drove down the wharf, didn’t see the truck and assumed it had pulled behind a building. More officers arrived and began searching the wharf — and then heard yelling from the water.

The officers saw four people in the bay and “assumed they had jumped into the water to escape,” the police department said. Flotation devices were tossed to the four, and a rescue crew was called.

“It was not until the officers could not find the truck that they realized the truck had driven off of the wharf and into the ocean,” said the police report.

All four people were rescued with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard and Monterey Police and Fire.

A 21-year-old Fresno man was believed to have been the driver. He was taken to the hospitalfor treatment of injuries not thought to be life-threatening. The three others had minor injuries.

The Fresno man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and obstructing or resisting a police officer.

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