Man Dives From Bridge To Elude Chasing Police / He fled from arrest in molestation of boy, 4

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2000-04-27 04:00:00 PDT SAUSALITO -- A convicted sex offender suspected of molesting a 4-year-old Sausalito boy led police on a wild car chase yesterday morning, zigzagging through oncoming traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge before stopping his car and leaping over the bridge railing.

The incident, which was caught on police videotape, is believed to be only the second time a fleeing suspect has deliberately jumped off the famous span to avoid capture. The first, in 1984, was a suspect in a savings and loan robbery.

The body of Brian Alexander Ward, 39, of San Francisco had not been located yesterday afternoon despite an intensive search in the choppy waters near the bridge, but he is presumed to be dead.

Ward, whose criminal record includes a conviction for assault and several peeping charges, allegedly molested the 4-year-old repeatedly over the past 1 1/2 years while working as a gardener for a Sausalito family.

Sausalito Police Chief Stephen Willis said the boy had told his parents on April 20 that Ward had been touching his "private parts." A subsequent investigation determined that Ward had forced the boy to perform oral sex in the backyard while Ward was doing yard work.

An arrest warrant was obtained and the boy's parents set up a phony business appointment with Ward yesterday. Willis said officers from Sausalito and Mill Valley police departments and the Marin County Sheriff's office were waiting when Ward drove up at 9:40 a.m. to meet the boy's parents at their home in the southern part of Sausalito.

"He just happened to come from a different direction than he normally came from," Willis said. "He arrived early and spotted two of the patrol vehicles."

Ward sped away in his cream-colored 1986 Jeep Comanche with police in hot pursuit. The chase reached speeds of 55 miles per hour as Ward turned off Valley Street, sped along Alexander Avenue and onto the lateral road up to the bridge.

Willis said Ward went south on the bridge and then suddenly swerved into oncoming traffic, weaving in and out before pulling to a stop at the east curb.

"He pulled over, got out and went right over the side," Willis said. "My understanding is this would have been the third strike for him. The thought of going back to prison probably didn't appeal to him and he took what he thought would be the easy way out. We were very fortunate nobody else was hurt."

At least one lane of traffic was blocked while police searched the bridge, causing a lengthy traffic jam just as the morning commute was winding down. There was initially speculation that Ward had climbed under the structure, but a Mill Valley police videotape verified he actually jumped off the bridge, Willis said.

Ward, whose most recent address was 20A Vulcan Stairway in San Francisco, has moved around from San Francisco to San Jose to Oakland and almost everywhere in between. He worked mostly as a gardener, sometimes lived in a van, and often got caught peeping into women's windows, according to police reports.

In September 1996, Ward was arrested and convicted of loitering on private property after allegedly peering through a window and then kicking a man who ran after him.

Ward served 45 days in county jail and received three years' probation. He was later arrested on a warrant for failing to register as a sex offender.

Convicted in 1997 on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon for attacking a woman in his Volkswagen van, Ward served nine days in jail and was put on felony probation for 36 months.

Ward also served 10 days in jail in 1998 after a woman who hired him as a gardener caught him peeping in her bedroom.

People who said they knew Ward were shocked after hearing about the chase yesterday.

"I've known him for three years; he used to do my garden," said Don Johnson, who believed Ward had served time for parking tickets. "He was a very outgoing person who always seemed like he would do anything to help you."

The Coast Guard searched from Point Bonita to Mile Rocks yesterday, but could not find Ward's body.

"Without the body, there is always speculation that he got away," Willis said, "but that is unlikely."