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Police are poised to arrest a San Francisco man hospitalized after allegedly crashing a stolen motorhome while trying to elude officers in San Ramon on Wednesday night.
Eric Games, 42, faces charges of recklessly evading police, vehicle theft and possessing stolen property in connection with the San Ramon incident, as well as a no-bail warrant for alleged violations of the terms of his supervised release one day earlier from San Francisco County Sheriff’s Office custody in two other pending criminal cases, according to police
The wreck, which saw the Fleetwood RV flipped onto its side across multiple lanes of Bollinger Canyon Road, closed a stretch of the major San Ramon thoroughfare for nearly nine hours.
The situation began unfolding at 7:42 p.m. Wednesday when San Ramon’s automated license plate reader program alerted city police to a motorhome that confirmed to have been reported stolen out of San Francisco, according to San Ramon police Capt. Denton Carlson.
Within five minutes, San Ramon police officers located the motorhome on Bollinger Canyon Road and soon conducted a traffic stop in the area of Camassia Way and North Wedgewood Road, according to Carlson.
“The driver of the motorhome initially complied and stopped the motorhome. However, as officers were making initial contact, the driver fled,” Carlson said. The officers pursued the RV for roughly two miles with lights and sirens blaring.
The motorhome, traveling west on Bollinger Canyon Road down the hill toward Alcosta Boulevard at 7:54 p.m., was swerving rapidly to try to avoid other vehicles while also entering the major intersection against a red light, according to Carlson.
The RV struck a car that was attempting to turn left onto eastbound Bollinger Canyon Road. “The motorhome and the suspect inside flipped onto its side and slid down Bollinger Canyon Road, coming to rest near Market Place,” the captain said. The other driver was only minorly hurt.
Officers approached the motorhome but couldn’t see the driver inside and were unsure if he had run away or was still in the wrecked RV. Police brought in an armored vehicle for public and officer safety during the search, and a Danville police drone team was called in to assist, according to Carlson.
“Officers flew a small drone inside the motorhome and saw someone inside, unresponsive and underneath a sofa,” Carlson said. Police entered the RV and located the injured person, and San Ramon Valley Fire personnel extricated the man and transported him to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for treatment.
Investigators determined the injured person was the sole occupant and driver during the police chase, later identifying him as Games, according to Carlson.
Games had been released from police custody in San Francisco on Tuesday in that county’s supervised release program, Carlson said. Games had two pending criminal cases with a slew of charges including stolen property, drug possession with intent to sell, transporting a dangerous drug, vehicle theft, giving false identification to police and misdemeanor driving violations.
As a result of the San Ramon incident, San Francisco sheriff’s officials have issued a no-bail warrant for Games’ arrest.
According to Carlson, once Games is medically cleared from the hospital, he will be booked into the Contra Costa County Jail on the San Francisco warrant as well as suspicion of felony reckless evasion of police, vehicle theft, hit-and-run causing injury and possession of stolen property for the San Ramon incident.
“Detectives from the San Ramon Police Department continue investigating this incident, and additional charges may be forthcoming pending an interior search of the motorhome,” Carlson said. “The investigation surrounding the collision is being conducted by the Walnut Creek Police Department’s Traffic Collision Investigation Unit.”
Portions of Bollinger Canyon Road through the area were closed to traffic until just before 5 a.m. Thursday amid the investigation and wreckage cleanup, police said.
Just hope Contra Costa County keeps this guy incarcerated , because if they return him to San Francisco. he will likely be set free again. Based on his criminal background, they should not have released him in the first place, but again, it’s San Francisco.