Gang Task Force arrests five

The Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team Gang Taskforce Officers were conducting a patrol in the City of Watsonville at the end of January. The Gang Taskforce Officers observed a vehicle with a vehicle violation infraction. The Gang Taskforce Officers attempted to conduct a stop of the vehicle.
The vehicle failed to yield and stop for the officers and fled the scene. The drivers of the fleeing vehicle disregarded the safety of the public by speeding through neighborhoods, running through stop signs and passing vehicles unsafely.
The driver of the suspect vehicle eventually stopped after four minutes of evading officers. The vehicle stopped at the dead end of Pacifica Boulevard and one of the passengers fled from the vehicle on foot.
With the assistance of the Watsonville Police Department, the subject that fled on foot was apprehended a short distance away. In the area where the subject fled, a loaded .38 caliber American Revolver was recovered. A matching bullet was located in the vehicle in which the subject that fled had been sitting.
All five occupants of the vehicle were arrested.
To date in 2016, Watsonville’s GTF has seized or assisted in seizing 23 handguns resulting in criminal charges being filed on the possessors of the firearms, reports Peter Hansen, Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team Taskforce Commander.