UPDATE:
The suspect has been apprehended. Sherwood Rd. was closed for some time because police believed the suspect might be dangerous. The road is now open.
ORIGINAL:
We originally got reports of a helicopter spotted flying over the area north of Brooktrails, roughly along Sherwood Rd. and shinning its spotlight onto people’s properties.
According to CHP dispatch in Garberville, a suspect was involved in a hit and run — fled, wrecked their own car, and continued to flee on foot. The helicopter was searching for the suspect, though it has now left, and police are continuing the searching on the ground.
Reports from readers say that a checkpoint was set up south of First Gate Rd. and that police were searching vehicles for the hit-and-run suspect. We are unsure if the checkpoint remains.
The CHP incident page says that the car belongs to a Brandon Smith, who claims that his car was stolen from Pine Mountain three days ago, but that he did not report it as stolen until it was involved in the hit-and-run tonight, because “he was trying to locate the vehicle himself.”
The Mendocino Sheriff’s Office is also involved.
We’d like to thank our friends at Mendocino Sports Plus for some help in deciphering the CHP shorthand.
We’ll continue to update as we learn more.
