Multi-County Crime Spree Ends With Crash into Apple Tree

A Monterey man wanted for domestic violence and drug charges allegedly drove a stolen van over Highway 152 and into Watsonville before crashing the vehicle into a tree, Watsonville police reported.

The chase was relayed to Watsonville police around 12:16 p.m. Tuesday by a Morgan Hill police officer driving an unmarked car westbound on Highway 152. The officer was following a 2007 white Ford van that had been reported stolen from Seaside, according to police. 

The driver, 51-year-old Ralph Samuel Brooks Jr., was the suspect in a domestic violence case in Morgan Hill, police said. 

Morgan Hill police lost sight of the van near Casserly Road but a Watsonville police officer spotted the vehicle a few minutes later driving westbound on Green Valley Road near Airport Boulevard. Brooks allegedly tried to evade police, leading officers on a chase into farmland near Corralitos, police said. 

The 6-mile pursuit ended on southbound Corralitos Road when Brooks reportedly tried to turn onto Merk Road but lost control of the van and crashed into an apple tree, police said. 

Brooks fled on foot. Watsonville police, including a K-9, started looking for him with help from the Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol. A CHP plane searched from the air.

Brooks was found about an hour later hiding under a low-growing tree along an irrigation ditch. He was arrested on a long list of charges, including a $200,000 warrant for unrelated drug charges.