A traffic stop over tinted windows and a missing front license plate touched off a 15-mile pursuit down Interstate 80 last Thursday, ending with a felon hiding in a San Pablo backyard, a loaded gun with a high-capacity magazine, and a failed attempt to carjack another driver mid-highway.
According to the Vallejo Police Department, officers from the department's patrol division spotted a gray Infiniti Q50 with tinted windows and no front plate near Solano Avenue and westbound Interstate 80 around 6:26 PM. Solano Avenue feeds directly onto the westbound I-80 on-ramp, a major arterial carrying heavy commuter traffic across the Carquinez Strait corridor, according to Caltrans. When officers ran the car's rear plate, the DMV database showed no matching record, per the department.
The driver initially pulled over when officers tried to make contact, but then fled, kicking off a pursuit that continued onto I-80 and stretched roughly 15 miles from Vallejo in Solano County into San Pablo in Contra Costa County, as reported by SFGATE. The chase ended in a non-injury collision with a semi-trailer truck near San Pablo, after which the driver got out of the Infiniti and tried to force his way into another occupied vehicle on the highway. That attempt failed, the department said.
Suspect Hid in a Residential Yard Before K9 Found Him
From there, the driver ran on foot into a nearby residential neighborhood, ignoring multiple commands to surrender. The California Highway Patrol Air Unit had been tracking the pursuit from above and directed responding officers to the area where he had gone into hiding, according to the police department's account. CHP's Golden Gate Division, based at Napa County Airport, deploys fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters with thermal imaging for exactly this kind of ground support during pursuits, per the California Highway Patrol.
Vallejo officers set up a perimeter with help from CHP and the San Pablo Police Department, and VPD K9 Stryker ultimately located the driver concealed in the side yard of a residence. Stryker and his handler, Officer Lopez, completed the Top Dog Basic Handler Course with honors in 2024, a program funded in part by a $40,000 donation from the Syar Foundation to expand the city's police dog program, the department noted in an earlier post.
Loaded Gun, High-Capacity Magazine Recovered From the Infiniti
Officers searching the abandoned Infiniti found a loaded, unregistered firearm equipped with a high-capacity magazine. California law restricts possession of magazines holding more than 10 rounds under Penal Code Section 32310, a statute the Hedding Law Firm notes remains actively enforced despite ongoing federal Second Amendment litigation.
The driver, an adult male resident of San Francisco, is a convicted felon with prior convictions for burglary, vehicle theft, evading police, and two separate prior convictions for being a felon in possession of a firearm, per the police department. Under Penal Code Section 29800, any convicted felon found with a firearm faces a felony charge punishable by 16 months, two, or three years in state prison, according to the Hedding Law Firm — a law that applies even to constructive control over a weapon inside a vehicle.
Evading and Attempted Carjacking Add to Legal Exposure
Fleeing a marked patrol vehicle under California Vehicle Code Section 2800.2 is a wobbler offense that can bring up to a year in county jail or state prison and fines as high as $10,000, according to the Shouse Law Group. Prosecutors can establish the willful disregard required for a felony charge by showing three or more traffic violations during a pursuit, even without a collision.
The attempted carjacking on the highway adds further exposure. Under Penal Code Sections 215 and 664, attempted carjacking carries up to four and a half years in state prison and counts as a strike under California's Three Strikes law, per the same source. Violent felony strikes require defendants to serve at least 85 percent of any sentence in custody.
The driver was medically cleared for incarceration and booked into Solano County Jail on multiple felony charges. Adult arrestees facing Solano County felony charges are processed through the Solano County Sheriff's Office facility network in Fairfield, including the main Justice Center Detention Facility on Union Avenue, which serves as the county's central booking hub. It remains unclear what specific charges the Solano County District Attorney's Office will formally file, whether Contra Costa County will pursue separate charges for the attempted carjacking, or what bail amount has been set.
Part of a Broader Vallejo Pattern
The department thanked CHP and the San Pablo Police Department for their assistance in the case. This incident follows a pattern Hoodline has tracked through 2026, in which routine Vallejo traffic stops for equipment or registration violations have repeatedly escalated into felony pursuits and turned up illegal weapons. In July, back-to-back Vallejo stops netted two loaded guns, while another stop that same month resulted in a prohibited driver's arrest with a loaded firearm carrying an extended magazine. A separate March pursuit that began in Vallejo also crossed into Contra Costa County before ending in multiple arrests.
