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Gotta run, the cops are after me

Sonoma police and Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies were on the lookout for 41-year-old Preston Hudspeth in connection with stolen property taken in Santa Rosa. At about 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 27, an officer spotted Hudspeth in the 500 block of Grove Street, just as Hudspeth spotted the officer.

According to a police report, Hudspeth bolted through the door of a nearby residence, exclaimed to the residents, “The cops are after me,” exited through the back door and ran off. A deputy took chase and two blocks down Oak Street was closing in when Hudspeth, according to the report, spun around and adopted a fighting posture.

The deputy took Hudspeth to the ground, cuffed him, and then conducted a body search that turned up 33 tablets of Vicodin (a popular painkiller), 16 pills of Alprazolam (a popular psychoactive drug for treating anxiety disorders, commonly known by the trade name Xanax) and a baggie of methamphetamine.

Hudspeth was taken to Sonoma Valley Hospital for treatment and medical clearance after suffering scrapes and abrasions in his struggle with police. He was then charged with resisting arrest, possession of controlled substances, possession of methamphetamine and, on the basis of an outstanding warrant, possession of stolen property. He was booked into the county jail on a $10,000 warrant.

In other incidents reported recently to local law enforcement:

Tuesday, Jan. 24:

4:24 p.m. – Offensive words in public. Deputies responded to a disturbance in the 900 block of Solano Avenue where a resident reported that his neighbor was yelling at his wife and two young daughters. The screamer denied it, but a second witness told deputies that the man indeed was yelling and screaming at the neighbor’s wife and children. The 56-year-old man was arrested and charged with offensive words in public.

7:30 p.m. – Smash and grab. An employee in a business in the 18000 block of Riverside Drive was working late and when she returned to her car and discovered that a window had been smashed. Missing from inside the car was her purse containing $120 in cash, a Mac iBook computer, a Canon digital camera, her ATM card and another credit card that was used at a business in Sonoma.

11 p.m. – Can you hear me now? A 57-year-old El Verano woman was arrested on multiple charges after an incident that started the day before in a convenience store parking lot. On that day, a deputy had contacted the woman, who had been drinking, at the convenience store. The deputy asked her to park her car, but instead she took off. The deputy later found the car, but not the woman. On Jan. 24, a deputy called the woman, concluded she was at home in the 200 block of Tuscany Place, and kept talking to her as he drove to her residence and discovered she was on the back porch. Standing nearby, the deputy hung up his phone but continued to talk to the heavily intoxicated woman while she responded on her telephone, apparently unclear as to where the deputy’s voice was coming from. The deputy finally advised her to hang up and then shined his flashlight on her. She was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, driving while suspended, evading a peace officer, lying to a peace officer and a probation violation.

Thursday, Jan. 26:

2:41 p.m. – No faux fire. A resident in the 21000 block of Broadway reported that an electric fireplace that had been shipped had apparently been stolen. The value of the fireplace was $149.

Friday, Jan. 27:

8:13 a.m. – $100 tag. A resident in the 18000 block of Barrett Avenue reported someone had tagged his fence. Damage was estimated at $100.

8:35 a.m. – Mountain bike goodbye. A resident in the 0 block of Meadowbrook Avenue reported that sometime after 1 a.m., someone stole an orange 15-speed mountain bike from in front of the residence. The loss was estimated at $350.

12:25 p.m. – One gun, empty safe. A thief entered a home through unlocked, sliding-glass doors in the 500 block of Cuernavaca Drive and made off with a 10-inch-by-10-inch floor safe and a .38 caliber Colt revolver. The revolver was valued at $300, but no value was given for the safe, which was empty.

2:29 p.m. – Big haul through unlocked door. A resident in the 800 block of Fremont Drive reported someone entered the residence through an unlocked door and stole two fishing rods, two knives, a digital camera, a guitar, a .22-caliber rifle and $1,400 in cash.

7:28 p.m. – A spit for a hit. A formerly married couple, who still live together in the 18000 block of El Nino Court, accused each other of battery. The 46-year-old woman accused her ex-husband of pushing her while the 51-year-old man accused his ex-wife of spitting on him. Deputies arrested both of them on domestic battery charges.

Saturday, Jan. 28

9:16 a.m. – Not shopping in Naperville. A resident in the 500 block of Este Madera told police about a fraudulent credit card charge for $300 at a Bed, Bath & Beyond store in Naperville, Ill., voted the second best place to live in the U.S. by Money magazine in 2008. Notwithstanding its many charms, the victim had not been shopping in Naperville and did not know how the credit card number was obtained.

7:29 p.m. – Kids? What kids? There was one witness nearby when a light gray, 1999 Dodge Caravan, traveling westbound on West MacArthur Street, plowed into a parked Chevy Tahoe near the intersection with First Street West, causing considerable damage to the Caravan.

The witness watched as the sliding side-door of the Caravan rolled open and two children, a boy of 12 and a younger girl, stepped out and helped disentangle the two vehicles. They then climbed back in the van, which drove off.

Police were called and found the driver a block away, alone, and still behind the wheel of the van, which had two flattened wheels and would not travel further. The driver was heavily intoxicated, blew a .20 and a .21 blood/alcohol level on a preliminary breath test, and was charged with DUI and hit-and-run, and booked into the county jail.

The next day an investigating officer went back to the accident scene and encountered the witness who asked, “Are the kids OK?”

To which the officer responded, “What kids?” When the witness relayed what he had seen, the officer went to the driver’s home and inquired about the children, but the mother was uncooperative. A report was then filed with the district attorney for further investigation of possible child endangerment charges.