Traffic Stop in Petaluma Leads to Child Endangerment Arrest

PETALUMA (CBS SF/BCN) — Police attempting to stop a vehicle for running a stop sign in Petaluma Tuesday quickly turned into a high-speed chase that led to the driver’s arrest a day later in connection with felony child endangerment.

Officers observed a vehicle drive through a stop sign on Windsor Drive at about 3:41 p.m. that was traveling at an estimated 35 miles per hour.

When the officer attempted to make a traffic stop on Windsor Drive and D Street, the vehicle pulled over briefly, long enough for the officer to approach the vehicle and see it had three occupants: the driver, a passenger in the front and a small child in a car seat.

Then the driver accelerated at a high rate of speed eastbound on D Street.

The officer pursued for less than a mile until terminating it, when the driver turned into a street busy with children nearby.

Based on the license plate of the vehicle, police determined the owner of the car was registered to an address on I Street, where police found that the two adults that had been in the vehicle were the child’s parents.

Police impounded the vehicle but the driver, 21-year-old Stephen A. Akers, had fled his home.

Akers turned himself in Wednesday at the Petaluma Police Department without providing a statement why he evaded officers, who later determined that Akers does not have a license to drive.

Police arrested Akers on suspicion of felony evading and child endangerment.

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