Suspect calls 911, demands that CHP stop chasing him

shooting15_031_pc.jpg Yellow police tape cordoned off the basketball courts where the shooting occurred. Two people were shot on the playground at Grimmer Elementary School on 4/14/04 in Fremont. PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle less shooting15_031_pc.jpg Yellow police tape cordoned off the basketball courts where the shooting occurred. Two people were shot on the playground at Grimmer Elementary School on 4/14/04 in Fremont. PAUL ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, SFC Photo: Paul Chinn, SFC Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Suspect calls 911, demands that CHP stop chasing him 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A stolen-car suspect escaped from police early Monday after he led officers on a wild, wrong-way chase through two Bay Area counties, called 911 to demand that the officers stop pursuing him, and crashed into a motorist in Berkeley, authorities said.

The crash happened at Hearst Avenue and California Street about midnight when the suspect, driving a stolen Honda Accord, crashed into a GMC Envoy, causing it to flip, the CHP said. The driver of the Envoy was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

The driver of the stolen car then fled on foot and eluded a search by police, trained dogs and a CHP helicopter.

The incident began about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when police chased the Honda in Concord. The driver headed west on Highway 4 in the eastbound lanes, and police on the ground stopped chasing him, letting the helicopter monitor him.

As the helicopter flew overhead, the suspect called 911 to demand the aircraft stop chasing him, said CHP Sgt. John Koven. He “made a few statements to our dispatch and related that he wasn’t going back to jail,” Koven said.

The helicopter continued to follow the suspect as he drove west in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80.

At one point, he narrowly missed Ryan O’Donnell, 36, of San Rafael, who was driving from Oakland International Airport with his fiancee and their 3-month-old son. The family was heading back from a weeklong Maui vacation when O’Donnell saw headlights coming straight for them near Albany about 11:55 p.m. Sunday.

“The car came head-on at us and almost took us out,” O’Donnell said. “I swerved to avoid the vehicle coming straight at us. If they catch him, he should be tried for attempted murder. He could have killed my whole family. Such a crazy experience that after flying halfway across the Pacific Ocean, we almost get killed 10 minutes from home by a car thief running from the police.”

The driver got off I-80 at University Avenue and drove through downtown Berkeley before crashing on Hearst Avenue and escaping, authorities said.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee