Suspected box truck thief flees after driving wrong way on Sunnyvale highway

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (KGO) -- Police in Sunnyvale say they're searching for a suspect after a stolen box truck crashed on Highway 237 Monday afternoon.

CHP officers say just before 12:30 p.m., they spotted a stolen box truck on Highway 101 in Mountain View. The truck had been stolen from Post Street in San Francisco. The officers started chasing it and the truck got onto 237 and then started driving the wrong way.

The suspect fled from the scene of the crash and cut through a nearby golf course.

"We thought it was weird there was a police car on the golf course and we didn't understand why the helicopter kept circling," said Chris Tenes from San Jose.

The CHP says the owner of the truck spotted it driving on the highway and was able to report it stolen as he followed it.

Sunnyvale police helped search for the driver and fanned out across various locations. They did detain several people including a person at Motel 6, but officers determined that the thief got away. No one was injured.

"We thought why is that helicopter hovering over us? And they finally told us the bad guys are over there, so don't go on the 17 and don't go over there, it was a little frightening," Bob Goligoski said.

Police have stopped actively searching at this point.