FREMONT — A 38-year-old Santa Cruz man was in county jail after a Memorial Day arrest on suspicion of several charges in connection with an apparent burglary at a junior high school campus, authorities said.
In a statement Tuesday, police said officers responded to William Hopkins Junior High, 600 Driscoll Rd., around 7:15 a.m. Monday for a burglary report, and learned that various items appeared to have been taken after a storage container break-in.
Around 4 p.m. Monday, after a construction worker told police that someone had returned to the site to rummage through classrooms, officers returned to the campus.
After hearing a saw used inside the building, officers began setting up a perimeter when a man came out of a school door and rode an electric skateboard away from an officer.
Other officers ran after the man, who ditched the skateboard at a nearby ravine and fled toward homes along Kensington Drive about a quarter-mile away from the school.
The man then jumped into at least one home’s backyard, trying to hide from patrol officers setting up a second perimeter and a drone pilot.
But the man fled the home’s yard for the street, where he met a K-9 officer and his dog. The man surrendered, and was arrested on suspicion of burglary and resisting arrest.
A school-campus search yielded multiple copper pipes and wires cut from inside the school and gathered to take away.
The man, who police said had a significant criminal history, was booked into Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of felony second-degree burglary and vandalism over $400, and faces arraignment Wednesday at Dublin’s East County Hall of Justice, according to a county records check.
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
Source: www.mercurynews.com