High speed car chase grinds to a halt in Sebastopol traffic

Alleged car thief ditched the stolen car in downtown on Sunday afternoon and made a run for it

Footage from Sheriff’s Department helicopter Henry 1 shows alleged car thief Nicole Medeiros ditching a stolen car in heavy traffic on Bodega Avenue near Main Street and escaping on foot.

Anyone who lives in Sebastopol could have told alleged car thief Nicole Medeiros that trying to have a high speed chase on Sebastopol Avenue (Hwy. 12) in downtown Sebastopol on a Sunday afternoon was a bad idea.

She found this out the hard way on Sunday, Nov. 12, around 2 pm, when the high speed chase she’d been leading the Santa Rosa Police on ground to a halt in downtown traffic on Sebastopol Avenue, right before Main Street.

At first she tried to drive between the two lanes of traffic, hitting two cars, before abandoning the stolen light blue Chevy in the middle of the road.

“No injuries for anybody, fortunately,” said Sebastopol Police Sargeant Andy Bauer, who was on the scene.

“The driver fled on foot from the vehicle,” Bauer said, “then a perimeter was set up with Santa Rosa PD. Our officers assisted on the perimeter. Henry-1 helicopter was overhead. Within a couple of minutes, Santa Rosa PD was able to make an arrest on the driver. She was hiding in a big laundry hamper nearby,” behind a local restaurant.

Santa Rosa Police Lt. Chris Mahurin told the Press Democrat that Medeiros, who had also hit another car in Santa Rosa during the chase, was arrested on a felony warrant for parolee at large as well as a number of other charges, “including resisting arrest, evading police, stealing a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of suspected methamphetamine and fentanyl.”