Car Thief Leaps Off San Francisco Bay Bridge To Avoid Arrest
Someone has seen too many action movies.
After stealing a car and wrecking it on the San Francisco Bay Bridge Wednesday, a suspected car thief jumped 75 feet into icy water to evade being captured by police.
Reports later confirmed the woman walking, soaking wet from the ocean, and a dump truck driver told CHP he had given the woman a ride across the bridge to the East Bay.
Police are still working to confirm the woman’s identity, although they did find identification floating in the bay. They describe her as a 20-year-old Hispanic female resident of the East Bay wearing a black dress and no shoes.
The amazing tale begins a few weeks ago in Los Angeles when the unknown driver stole a Nissan Maxima for a trip to the Bay Area. Then last night, she met two other women and wound up driving with them across the Bay Bridge at 2 a.m.
When the driver wrecked her stolen car the trio got out and started walking along the adjoining bike path. That’s where CHP officers found them when they came to investigate, but instead of cooperating, the driver climbed over the safety rail and either jumped or fell 75 feet to the water below.
The other two women who were passengers in the car were spotted walking away and subsequently picked up by police. After telling officers all they knew of the driver, which wasn’t much, they were released.
A multi-agency search, including the Coast Guard, began, but there were no additional leads until rumors started to surface.
The amazing part of the story is that she appears to have survived her fall with little or no injuries as witnesses saw her hours later walking along the shore.
Later in the day, reports surfaced showing her hitching a ride with a dump truck driver and that story was later confirmed when the driver walked into CHP headquarters to tell his story.
Although many desperate people use the location to commit suicide, a fall from the Bay Bridge is survivable.
The fall is quite different than that from the famous Golden Gate Bridge, which is 245 feet high. Of the 1,500 people who have jumped from the Golden Gate, a mere 1 percent have survived.
So far, there are no additional leads and police are asking anyone with information on the woman’s whereabouts to come forward.
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
