Modesto Police pursued two vehicles Friday night into Manteca’s northern city limits at speeds reaching 100 mph following a convenience store carjacking at gunpoint on Carpenter Road in Modesto.
Police had reports that one AK-47 assault weapon was in the car with the driver taking it with him when he fled from the crashed vehicle.   Officers arriving on the scene quickly armed themselves with their own automatic long rifles as they set up a perimeter in hopes of capturing the suspects.
Nine Modesto black and white patrol units and at least one detective unit chased the carjackers in moderate traffic with lights and sirens blaring as they raced through the Ripon city limits. The one getaway car failed to make the s-turn on the Austin Road ramp and rolled over into a water runoff drainage basin where the driver crawled out and ran.  No weapon was reportedly located in the car.
Modesto police asked Manteca officers for mutual-aid coverage at the intersection of Moffat Boulevard and Austin Road to block the movement of traffic.
The three individuals who had been reported in the second car drove away from the accident scene and could not be located.  The Modesto officers, Manteca Police, Ripon Police, Sheriff’s deputies and units from the Highway Patrol set up a perimeter searching northward up Austin Road and east onto Graves Avenue.
A large industrial junk yard on the frontage road near the crash site was searched but when officers found three large dogs behind the gate they determined that anyone entering into that facility would have faced a greater danger due to the aggressive nature of the animals and the collection of large metal discards.  
Officers also cleared barns, out buildings and at least two homes in the area and found nothing.
The Stanislaus County Air One helicopter circled over the area for more than an hour as did a fixed wing Highway Patrol Air 21 reconnaissance plane at a higher altitude with onboard night surveillance gear.  Fire department units and ambulances staged at a safe distances from the search area. The on ramps and off ramps were blocked by police cars in addition to the police presence around the crashed vehicle.
After more than three hours of searching for the suspect, officers cleared the area and were apparently confident that the man had slipped through their perimeter net of law enforcement officers.

To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.