A suspect who really did not want to be caught by police gave chase Thursday evening, via the waters of Mission Bay and China Basin, only to be caught three hours later after swimming back and forth between bridges wearing only jean shorts. The whole incident began at 4:30 p.m. when a CHP officer attempted to pull over the man, who was riding a motorcycle on the shoulder of northbound 280, near the King Street ramp. The motorcyclist refused to stop and continued on, colliding with a car before abandoning the motorcycle and fleeing on foot.
As the SFPD describes in a release, "He ended up in the area of Berry Street near 4th Street where he entered the water of the China Basin Water Channel." At this point the SFPD and SFFD became involved, with the Fire Department deploying a jet ski, a skiff, and rescue swimmers into the water to chase down the swimming man.
But the chase went on for hours after this, with the dude who very well may have consumed a substance of some kind before all this happened swimming very ably away from authorities, at one point popping up through a manhole via a ladder from the water, and climbing up on a derelict pier where he proceeded to do some pushups.
CBS 5 has video of the whole thing.
The incident shut down the 3rd and 4th Street bridges at one point, until ultimately the suspect was surrounded as he took a seat at the end of that derelict pier. An SFPD Crisis Negotiator then moved in, and after continuing not to want to be arrested, the suspect finally surrendered just before dark at 7 p.m.
He was then taken in for medical evaluation before getting booked in jail.
The man's identity has not yet been released, and as the Chronicle reports, it remains unclear what charges he may face.