A San Bernardino police chase that started on West Athol Street ended about 30 minutes later in an industrial wash near Agua Mansa Road in Rialto, where a crash set off a fire that burned up three patrol cars and scorched nearby brush. No one was hurt. The man police were chasing was arrested on suspicion of assault with a firearm, evading arrest and brandishing a firearm.
According to the San Bernardino Sun, officers spotted a man wanted for assault with a firearm on West Athol Street around 3:40 p.m. Friday. When officers tried to stop his car, the driver hit the gas and fled, kicking off a pursuit that wound roughly 30 minutes before the suspect's car got stuck and disabled in a wash near Agua Mansa Road in Rialto. San Bernardino Police Department Sgt. Araceli Mata said the man was taken into custody there.
What happened next destroyed a chunk of the department's patrol fleet. Mata said one patrol vehicle caught fire after the crash, and that fire spread to two other vehicles, destroying all three. She told the paper she was unsure exactly what started the blaze. San Bernardino Police Sgt. Frank Fuentes offered a more specific account, saying a patrol car and the pursued car had a minor collision, and that the first patrol car then caught fire, possibly from burning brush, according to the same report.
Fire Risk in a Riverbed
The two accounts from Mata and Fuentes differ slightly on the sequence. The incident highlights the risk of fire when vehicles are near dry grass and brush. Cal Fire advises drivers to park away from dry grass because hot exhaust pipes can ignite fires, as detailed by Cal Fire.
The brush fire itself stayed small. Matt Blanco said it was quickly extinguished and covered less than an acre, per the Sun's reporting. Three fire agencies converged on the scene in sequence: Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department arrived first, followed by the Colton Fire Department, with the Rialto Fire Department arriving after that. The crash site, a drainage wash near Agua Mansa Road, sits in an industrial area.
Three Cruisers Gone From the Fleet
The fire destroyed three patrol vehicles, a loss for the department's fleet.
Potential Charges the Suspect Could Face
The man's arrest on suspicion of assault with a firearm, evading arrest and brandishing a firearm carries significant potential exposure under California law. Assault with a firearm under Penal Code Section 245(a)(2) is a felony carrying a state prison sentence of two, three or four years, or up to a year in county jail, according to FindLaw.
Part of a Busy Stretch for San Bernardino Pursuits
This chase lands just days after another high-profile pursuit in the area. Hoodline reported that on October 10, San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies engaged in a 13-mile chase after a stolen Kia tip flagged by automated license plate readers, leading to the arrest of two 13-year-olds. Together with this latest incident, it reflects a string of recent vehicle pursuits and felony evading arrests across San Bernardino County this month.
