In the early hours of a recent Fairfield, CA, morning, a routine traffic stop escalated into a dramatic chase, ending with the recovery of a handgun and the arrest of a local man. Fairfield Police Department reports that Officer Spencer pulled over 30-year-old Demarea Smith near the intersection of Vanden and Peabody Road at approximately 1:32 am on May 17.

Detecting suspicious behavior warranted further investigation. Spencer garnered probable cause to search Smith's vehicle. When the officer initiated this legal search, Smith made an impulsive decision to flee in his car, prompting a high-speed pursuit by law enforcement. A spike strip was deployed in an attempt to stop the fleeing vehicle; however, Smith continued driving, using precious moments to dispose of an object out of his car window before finally coming to a standstill.

According to a post on the Fairfield Police Department's Facebook page, officers were able to recover the jettisoned item, which turned out to be a backpack containing a handgun equipped with a high-capacity magazine. The report did not specify details regarding what exactly gave Officer Spencer the probable cause for a search or the nature of Smith's initial traffic violation.

Following the conclusion of the chase and the retrieval of the weapon, Smith was arrested and is now facing charges housed in the Solano County Jail.