A rooftop chase late Tuesday night didn’t end well for a suspect that mistimed his jump and crashed through a pine tree and down onto the ground where police officers – and a canine – were waiting for him. 

Scott Carey, a 27-year-old Manteca resident, was taken into custody by Manteca Police early Wednesday morning after he fled when being questioned by officers on the 200 block of Flores Avenue. He ran into a neighboring backyard and after police set-up a perimeter, they saw him scaling up and onto the rooftop of a neighboring home and outside of their dragnet. 

It took more than two hours and most of Manteca Police’s available patrol manpower to keep Carey contained, but it was his own doing that ended up leading to his arrest. According to Manteca Police Lt. Tony Souza, Carey jumped from a roof into an adjacent pine tree thinking that the branches would offer support but instead passed right through the narrow limbs and fell to the ground below. Officers and a canine promptly apprehended him and he was taken to a nearby hospital for superficial wounds and then released – extending the chase from its starting point all the down to the intersection of Pine Street and Marie Avenue. 

He was then arrested for evading police and vandalism of more than $1,000 and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail. Both are misdemeanors. He is currently being held on a pair of felony warrants – grand theft and vandalism of $50,000 or more – on $81,000 bail. 

Carey is set to appear in the Manteca branch of the San Joaquin County Superior Court on Friday, Oct. 17 at 8:30 a.m.