Sausalito License Plate Cameras Locate Stolen Car Used In San Francisco Burglary

SAUSALITO (CBS SF) -- A car stolen in Sunnyvale and used as the getaway vehicle in a San Francisco jewelry store burglary was spotted by police license plate readers in Sausalito Thursday, prompting a police chase in which the driver escaped on foot.

Sausalito police said the department received an alert from its license plate camera system of a stolen 2008 Ford vehicle entering Sausalito along Monte Mar Dr. at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. Officers spotted the Ford about a block away in the area of Crecienta Dr. and Currey Ave., and as officers approached the vehicle took off onto adjacent Currey Lane, which is a dead-end street that abuts northbound U.S. Highway 101.

The driver of vehicle fled from the car, jumped over a chain-link fence and ran across eight lanes of Highway 101 into a heavily wooded open space on the west side of the highway, police said. He was described only as a male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

A search by Sausalito police, Marin County sheriff's deputies and California Highway Patrol officers was unsuccessful.

Investigators determined the abandoned Ford had been the getaway vehicle in a smash-and-grab burglary of a jewelry store in San Francisco at approximately just minutes before arriving in Sausalito. Police said during the search of the Ford, officers found the stolen jewelry and tools commonly used to commit burglaries.

Police said since the city launched its license plate camera system in 2017, 44 stolen vehicles have been recovered and 49 people have been arrested for various crimes.