By Loretta Kalb
lkalb@sacbee.com
A Sacramento motorcyclist was arrested Saturday night after fleeing authorities at speeds of 120 mph along the freeways and surface streets from Citrus Heights to the Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento, the California Highway Patrol said today.
Two CHP cruisers were heavily damaged when the brakes on one failed, according to the CHP. One officer complained of pain in his back, neck and arm, Sgt. Mike Gallisdorfer of the North Sacramento CHP office. He was examined by a doctor.
The motorcyclist, Daniel Patrick Naillon, was taken into custody at about 7 p.m. Saturday for suspicion of evading an officer, a felony, as well as misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license, Gallisdorfer said.
Gallisdorfer said authories were aided in nabbing the suspect by a high-tech camera system aboard one of the CHP's fixed-wing planes.
The equipment, called the Wescam System, is highly sophisticated, capable of tracking high-speed vehilcles on the ground with precision, and detailing speed, distances and street names during a pursuit, Gallisdorfer said.
He said officers on board the plane in this case guided on-ground patrol units in tracking the motorcyclist, which enabled CHP cruisers to follow at a safe distance even when the officers lost sight of the motorcyclist.
"They said, 'We're five miles out. We just picked him up (by camera) and he's exiting Fulton (Avenue),'" Gallisdorfer said, recalling his exchange Saturday with one of the officers aboard the plane.
The motorcyclist was tracked from the Interstate 80 offramp to an Arden-Arcade area near Cottage Way and Butano, where one CHP unit caught up. But when that officer switched on his lights and siren, "the kid took off," Gallisdorfer said. "In that part of the chase, the kid was on the wrong side of the road in excess of 100 mph.
"We're not going to go 100 mph on the wrong side of the road," he added. "That's just going to get somebody killed."
Instead, the aircraft camera continued tracking the suspect, who reportedly rode to his own home on Topaz Way near Holt Way.
The officers on the plane tracked the man to the house and watched as a friend helped him take the motorcycle inside, he said.
One patrol cruiser was not far behind, and an officer followed the suspect into the house, where he was putting the motorcycle on its stand in the kitchen, Gallisdorfer said.
A second patrol unit arriving about that time was unable to use his brakes to stop after the chase. He used the other cruiser to come to a halt, seriously damaging both cars.
Call The Bee's Loretta Kalb, (916) 321-1073.
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