Crime Briefs

The man pulled up next to the cop car at intersection of Third Avenue and Delaware Street. When the light turned green, the car burned rubber and sped south. Not surprisingly, the officer immediately tried to pull the car over, but the driver refused to yield.

Going about 40 mph, the car sped to an alley near 16th Avenue and turned off its headlights. The officer decided it was unsafe to continue the pursuit, but still patrolled the area, said police Capt. Kevin Raffaelli.

Shortly after, the officer saw the headlights of the car near a downed fence. The driver fled the car and began to run away from the officer. He, however, left the car in gear and sent it careening into another fence. He was eventually caught on the 1200 block of Claremont Street.

He was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, driving without a license and failing to yield to a police officer.

Fire fighters evacuate elderly from home

A two-alarm fire broke out in a laundry room of an assisted living complex in Belmont yesterday, evacuating a handful of elderly residents.

At 2:40 a.m., firefighters responded to two-alarm fire at Sunrise Assisted Living, located at 1010 Alameda de las Pulgas. A fire that started in a dryer of a third floor laundry room produced enough smoke to evacuate five to seven elderly residents into a nearby courtyard.

The entire complex, which cares for dementia and Alzheimer's patients, didn't have to be evacuated because the fire was small and quickly contained, said South County Fire Marshall Jim Palisi.

The fire only caused one fire sprinkler to go off and was contained by 3 a.m., Palisi said.

Paramedics were standing by but no one was injured. Each evacuated resident was able to walk out of the building and back inside by themselves, according to police reports.

The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation and there is no damage estimate.