According to California Highway Patrol spokesman Adam Shelton, of the Tracy office, a citizen flagged down a CHP officer while at a gas station at the intersection of Lathrop and Harlan roads in Lathrop around 4 p.m.
The citizen reportedly thought the female passenger inside of a 2003 Ford F350 truck was in danger, Shelton said.
The driver, later identified by officers as John Memmer, allegedly sped away from the gas station when officers approached. Shelton said Memmer began driving south on Interstate 5 and was “speeding, making unsafe lane changes and driving down the center divide” as he approached the Interstate 205 west exit.
CHP officers from the Tracy officer took over the pursuit on I-205 at MacArthur Drive, Shelton said.
Memmer then took the Tracy Boulevard exit where he turned north and continued on Larch Road allegedly at speeds of 65 mph in a 25 mph zone.
Memmer turned south on Corral Hollow Road and then to Kavanagh Avenue at speeds of 50 mph, Shelton said.
He turned back on Tracy Boulevard, heading north, and then crashed into two vehicles that were waiting at the stop light at the I-205 Stockton exit just before the I-205 overpass.
Shelton said officers reported that Memmer appeared to accelerate into the two vehicles.
“It looked like he was trying to get them out of his way,” Shelton said.
The two female drivers, ages 17 and 20, both of Tracy, were uninjured, Shelton said. Also uninjured was the unidentified woman riding in Memmer’s truck. After the impact, the truck was too damaged to move and Memmer was arrested near the crash, according to Shelton.
Memmer is charged with aggravated assault, driving under the influence of alcohol and evading police and is being held at the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp on $1.1 million bail, according to the jail website.
He scheduled for arraignment at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 27 at the Manteca branch of San Joaquin County Superior Court, the jail website states.
Contact Denise Ellen Rizzo at 830-4225 or drizzo@tracypress.com.
If ya take a look at a California road map it's pretty easy ta understand how these people end up in Tracy. All th major highways in this area of th state converge on Tracy.