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Yesterday around 3PM I noticed considerable police activity on Sierra Vista in AC. Then again around 5:30 PM. I heard that there was a house to house search to find someone responsible for stealing a car. Not sure if that is correct. I would like to know...did the police arrest someone?
And I am sure with all of the resources utilized by the Sheriff's Dept it was quite an expensive ordeal. Does the responsible party (if found guilty) have to cover any of those expenses or is it strickly billed to the City of AC?

I am not sure where Sierra Vista is -- but I am wondering if this was the same police activity taking place on James Road as I drove by on my way home. At one point I saw a Highway Patrol airplane AND the helicopter circling. It was obviously something big going on.

Man gives chase before drug arrest Friday
By CARLOS VILLATORO, Register Staff Writer
Sunday, December 31, 2006 1:14 AM PST

A traffic stop in American Canyon turned into a suburban manhunt for a 22-year-old Vallejo man Friday afternoon. The search for Richard Raymond Statler ended later that evening when American Canyon Police officers arrested him on suspicion of possession and transportation of methamphetamine, and resisting arrest.

Statler was driving a car along James Road around 3:30 p.m., when an American Canyon Police officer pulled him over in the driveway of a home on the 200 block of James Road. When the officer discovered some meth hidden inside a cigarette box during a consented search, Statler took off running on foot.

"He went over numerous fences ... from backyard to backyard," American Canyon Police Sgt. Mike Hunter said.

Officers quickly established a perimeter in the neighborhood and searched the yards of several homes along Carolyn Drive, Donaldson Way and other areas with the help of K9 units and a California Highway Patrol helicopter and airplane. The officers were unsuccessful in finding Statler and kept finding articles of his clothing including a shoe and sweatshirt, and a cell phone, Hunter said.



"He actually climbed into a hot tub (and) we kept finding more and more clothes," Hunter said. "He was wet and cold."

Police called off the search for Statler around 5 p.m., and re-initiated the hunt about an hour later after Statler was spotted walking on Orange Blossom Court.

"After a fairly moderate foot chase, he went over a couple of fences (and) he was bit by a canine," Hunter said. "There was a short scuffle."

Officers got the upper hand on Statler and took him into custody. Hunter said that CHP helicopters were instrumental in Statler's capture.

"When we thought that we had the guy cornered they lit up the whole front yard and it was a big, big help," he said.

Police took Statler to Queen of the Valley Hospital before taking him to jail. Statler had drug warrants out of Solano County at the time of his arrest Friday, Hunter said.