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Chihuahua Leads CHPs’ Officers On Chase Across The Bay Bridge

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 20:43 PST, Apr 3, 2016

The California Highway Patrol had an unusual task on Sunday as a black Chihuahua dog took them on a merry chase across the Bay Bridge. Once they had the errant pup in hand, they gave him a very appropriate name.

As reported by the Irish Examiner, the crazy chase happened early on Sunday morning, when the CHPs’ officers spotted the small black Chihuahua, making its way onto the Bay Bridge in Oakland and heading towards San Francisco. The officers were then immediately in pursuit and on the mutt’s tail.

CHP’s Officer Vu Williams and his partner reportedly found the runaway at around 7 a.m. on the westbound side of the bridge and chased after him, with Williams driving his patrol car and his partner joining the chase on a motorcycle. However, the little dog proved to be a very elusive target.

Afraid that the Chihuahua might be harmed, Williams stopped the traffic, while his partner went ahead, trying to scoop up the little dog. However, not wanting to be caught, the little Chihuahua took off again, running at full speed.

The CHPs officers reportedly attempted to pick up the dog four times, but every time the wily mutt eluded capture.

Williams then thought to whip out his iPhone and managed to capture a few seconds of the pursuit. Saying in the description that the “suspect” had been taken into custody, the video clip was posted to one of the CHP’s Twitter accounts, where it quickly went viral.

After chasing the elusive Chihuahua for around five to 10 minutes, Williams finally drove the patrol car ahead of the dog, then hopped out and managed to hem the dog against the bridge’s wall using his jacket. His partner then stepped in and made the arrest.

Williams said they have never had so much trouble catching an animal on the bridge, saying, “We’ve had dogs on the bridge, all sorts of animals: seals, turtles, you name it. We never had one that took off and took so long to get.”

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the CHPs officers found a collar and tag on the Chihuahua, but unfortunately no identifying information, so they took him to the San Francisco County Animal Care, who found the little dog to be in good health.

According to Williams, it was unknown at that stage whether the dog had an implanted identification microchip. He added that if authorities cannot identify the little black Chihuahua and he’s not claimed within the next five days, he will be put up for adoption.

For the moment, the rescued Chihuahua has been appropriately given the name Ponch, after Erik Estrada’s character on the TV show CHiPs.

Once the dog was safely in the animal shelter, CHPs officers posted images of the chase on the social media in an effort to track down the Chihuahua’s owner.

According to Deb Campbell, a spokeswoman for San Francisco County Animal Care, the little dog was wearing a tag on his collar, decorated with a human skull. Campbell said the Chihuahua was doing well and was recovering from his ordeal.

[Photo via Flickr by torbakhopper, cropped and resized/CC BY 2.0]

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