Santa Rosa man arrested after 3-county pursuit

SANTA ROSA, Calif.

Stephen Thomas Lamontange, 32, was riding his motorcycle in excess of 100 mph on Interstate Highway 80 near Vacaville around 4:30 p.m., CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.

When a CHP officer tried to stop him, Lamontange kept driving west onto state Highway 12 in Napa County, and onto state Highway 116 and Lakeville Highway in Sonoma County as the CHP's helicopter and fixed-wing plane followed him, Sloat said.

CHP officers in Santa Rosa prepared to intercept Lamontange as he traveled north on U.S. Highway 101 through Petaluma and Cotati, Sloat said.

When Lamontange's motorcycle entered the congested construction zone on Highway 101 in the Rohnert Park area, CHP officers stopped all traffic to prevent a collision, Sloat said.

Lamontange dumped the motorcycle in the No. 1 lane when he saw the roadblock and ran west across the southbound lanes, according to Sloat.

CHP officers chased him when he jumped a fence and ran across Redwood Drive and caught him in the parking lot of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat printing plant building, he said.

The CHP determined Lamontange was driving on a suspended license and had multiple traffic convictions and a lengthy criminal record, Sloat said.

He was booked into the Sonoma County Jail for reckless evasion of police, resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license, Sloat said.

A jail spokeswoman said this morning that Lamontange posted $30,000 bail and was released this morning.

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