Chase ends in crash, fire, arrest of Hayward man

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, May 27, 2009 | by Eric Kurhi

HAYWARD -- A Hayward man was arrested and three others were taken in for questioning Wednesday afternoon after leading police on a chase that ended with the suspects' vehicle crashing and bursting into flames along railroad tracks near Huntwood Avenue and Tennyson Road, police said.

The 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis in which the four men were traveling was pulled over along Gading Road about 2:40 p.m. because it had been reported stolen out of Hayward on Monday, police said.

The car initially stopped but then reversed into the officers' vehicle, sideswiping it then headed down Gading and through Weekes Park. The car led police on a chase, going between 35 to 50 mph, before turning onto Huntwood and going up the gravel embankment and over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, police Sgt. Steve Brown said.

The driver eventually lost control and crashed into a chain-link fence on the south side of Tennyson High School. The car then caught fire. The occupants fled the vehicle and the passengers were immediately caught. However, the driver jumped the fence and was caught trying to hop another fence on the Tennyson campus minutes later.

Brown said school was out for the day when the chase began, and traffic was "very light" along the route so they did not call off the pursuit. The Fire Department was summoned to the scene after the burning car ignited nearby grass. Trains were stopped while the fire was quickly extinguished.

The driver, 31-year-old Paul McHenry, of Hayward, was arrested on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle, resisting arrest, and assault with a deadly weapon because he rammed the pursuing officer's vehicle, Brown said. The other three occupants were taken in for questioning.