A Walgreens employee's alertness at the 100 block of South Ellsworth Avenue in San Mateo led to the arrest of a 19-year-old San Mateo resident named Wilfran PerezGomez on charges of shoplifting and felony resisting a police officer. The incident, which transpired yesterday, began with the suspect allegedly stealing alcohol and fleeing the scene on a bicycle at around 1:19 p.m., according to the San Mateo Police Department.
An attempt by an officer to stop PerezGomez resulted in the officer's injury as the suspect continued his eastward escape towards Highway 101. It didn't take long for him to ditch the bike and run under the 3rd Avenue overpass, disappearing into a creek beneath the highway. With the suspect out of sight, a perimeter was formed, and a drone was deployed to locate his hiding place on an embankment under the overpass.
Even with commands from the officers for PerezGomez to come out, he was uncooperative. Eventually, after more than an hour of negotiation, police resorted to non-lethal force, deploying pepper spray to coax him from his hiding spot. "The pepper spray was effective," the San Mateo Police Department reported. PerezGomez surrendered and was safely taken into custody, later being booked into the San Mateo County Jail on various charges.
