SAUSALITO, Calif. (BCN) - Officers arrested an auto theft suspect who tried to elude them by dashing into the back of a Sausalito restaurant on Friday night, police said.
Ernest Linton, 25, was taken into custody after a foot chase through Sausalito that ended in the preparation area at the back of an eatery on Caledonia Street, according to police.
Police first noticed Linton shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, when an officer on Bridgeway spotted a 1999 Honda Civic with an expired license plate sticker. A records check showed the car had reported stolen in San Francisco earlier in the day.
Officers were following the Honda to set up a traffic stop when the car abruptly pulled to the curb and stopped in a parking space in the 1000 block of Bridgeway.
Linton, the only person in the car, got out and ran onto Johnson Street towards Caledonia. During a foot chase, Linton climbed a wall to a business and ran through a closed screen door that led to a small
storage/preparation room in the back of the restaurant, police said.
Officers caught up the suspect and after a short struggle took him into custody.
Neither Linton nor the officers were injured during the arrest.
Police said Linton, a resident of Los Osos in San Luis Obispo County, was possibly under the influence of heroin and in possession of burglary tools, narcotics paraphernalia and suspected shoplifted merchandise. The officers' investigation also revealed that Linton was on probation out of San Luis Obispo County for previous narcotics violations and his California driver's license was suspended.
Linton was arrested and booked into the Marin County Jail for possession of a stolen vehicle, driving under the influence, possession of burglary tools, resisting arrest, possession of narcotics paraphernalia, vandalism, and driving on a suspended driver's license.