Orinda police chase leads to Berkeley crash, arrest
A neighbor said he was driving down Tunnel Road when he saw the police chase in his rearview mirror. He turned off the road to avoid being hit.
A pursuit by Orinda police officers led to a crash and arrest on Tunnel Road in Berkeley on Tuesday afternoon.
The Berkeley Scanner has requested details from the Contra Costa County sheriff's office, which oversees police services in Orinda.
Scroll down for an update to the story.
In the meantime, one Berkeley resident shared photographs of the crash on Tunnel Road, near Alvarado Road, where the pursuit ended.
He said he was driving down Tunnel when he saw the police chase in his rearview mirror. He turned off the road to avoid being hit.
He later saw Orinda police officers pulling Red Bull, laundry pods and other items out of the crashed car and placing them on its roof.
A neighbor told The Scanner by email that she heard sirens followed by the thump of the crash when the driver hit a tree.
"Immediate police and commotion," she wrote, with officers ordering the vehicle's occupants to get onto the ground.
"We heard lots of yelling," she said, and could see a woman in a white T-shirt being told to get onto the ground.
The woman from the car complied while hollering, "I didn't do anything," the neighbor said.
The neighbor said police remained at the scene for about an hour and a half.
As of 4:30 p.m., the crashed car had been towed and normal traffic had resumed on Tunnel Road.
Berkeley police and firefighters responded to the scene but were not involved in the pursuit.
The Contra Costa County sheriff's office said it will release a statement about what happened.
This story will be updated when additional information becomes available.
Update, 9:55 p.m. The Contra Costa County sheriff's office said Tuesday's incident began shortly before 3 p.m. when an Orinda police officer tried to stop a driver on Camino Pablo near Camino Sobrante.
The driver initially yielded, authorities said, but then fled westbound on Highway 24 as the officer chased him.
The vehicle "became disabled causing the driver to lose control on Tunnel Road" where he struck a tree, the Contra Costa County sheriff's office said.
The driver was identified as Kenika Temple, 40, of San Leandro. He was arrested and taken to the Martinez Detention Facility on suspicion of felony evasion, authorities said.
He also had an out-of-county warrant related to theft and drug-related charges, according to the Contra Costa County sheriff's office.
