A California Highway Patrol helicopter narrowly avoided a drone hovering above Contra Costa County on Saturday, letting a stolen vehicle escape and perhaps landing a Martinez resident in a lot of trouble.

No arrests were made after the near miss, but CHP officer James Andrews said a police report will be forwarded to federal and local agencies for review and possible prosecution. The helicopter crew also made contact with Buchanan Field Airport traffic controllers and the Federal Aviation Administration.

For now, the person operating the drone remains unidentified. The drone landed on Roux Court in Martinez, where the operator picked it up, according to Andrews.

Martinez police contacted the drone operator there.

“Missed it by less than 100 feet,” Andrews said. “The pilot had to make a very drastic, abrupt turn. It was very, very close.”

The chopper crew encountered the drone around 9 p.m. while tracking a stolen vehicle above Highway 4. As the crew tracked the vehicle, which was going east, the pilot saw a red light outside flying near the same altitude of 700 to 800 feet, Andrews said.

“He looked outside, saw a red light, and in the time he said to himself, ‘Is that a drone?’ he realized that it was indeed a drone, and it was almost on top of him,” Andrews said.

The pilot veered hard right to avoid a collision, Andrews said, a move not typical under normal flying circumstances. The CHP H-32 helicopter then circled around and followed the drone with its spotlight until it landed.

The stolen vehicle never was captured.

According to Andrews, the FAA expects about one million drones to be given and received as gifts during the holiday season. All drones, no matter their size, are dangerous for a manned aircraft and should not be flown anywhere near them, Andrews said.

“From the pilot’s standpoint, we have enough to worry about without running into something that’s not supposed to be there,” Andrews said. “So it’s extremely important for people to know how dangerous it can be.”

Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rderh.