Petaluma police arrest driver after high

Police said a Vacaville man led them on a high-speed pursuit down city streets and out of town early this week in a chase that ended only after the driver lost control and crashed near Highway 1.

The incident began a few minutes after midnight on Monday, Aug. 28, when a patrol officer noticed a silver Hyundai Elantra “traveling at a high rate of speed on Lakeville Street, headed toward East D Street,” police reported, adding that “The driver also crossed into the oncoming lanes of traffic for several hundred feet.”

The officer attempted to make a traffic stop, according to police, but instead the driver “accelerated away from the officer and drove through multiple red traffic signals while fleeing.”

From there the pursuit continued down Western Avenue and out of Petaluma, with deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office joining the chase. Eventually, the driver lost control of his car while failing to navigate a turn onto Highway 1, striking a dirt embankment and damaging the Hyundai’s front left wheel, police said.

After that, the driver “continued for a short distance after the collision and then pulled to the side of the road and surrendered himself into custody,” police said.

Authorities arrested 34-year-old William Dye of Vacaville without further incident. Neither Dye nor anyone else was injured in the chase or crash, police said.

Dye was taken to Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility on suspicion of felony evading arrest. Although police said the pursuing officer thought he might have been intoxicated due to his erratic driving, no DUI results or charges were reported.