Man dies in I-238 plunge escaping deputies

A 40-year-old man died after jumping off Interstate Highway 238 in San Lorenzo while trying to escape from Alameda County sheriff’s deputies early Thursday morning, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

The suspect, identified by the Alameda County coroner’s bureau as Redwood City resident Paul Giacomoni, died in the incident that began around 12:30 a.m. when a deputy located a stolen Toyota pickup truck on Hesperian Boulevard, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

The deputy tried to pull over the truck as it was entering southbound Highway 238. The truck yielded and pulled over to the side of the road, but the driver then got out and climbed onto the barrier wall of the highway, Kelly said.

As deputies approached, he tried to escape by jumping off the highway but he apparently didn’t know he had a drop of about 40 feet to the ground below, which was near the San Lorenzo Pioneer Cemetery, according to Kelly.

The man, later identified as Giacomoni, suffered serious injuries in the fall. Deputies tried to perform lifesaving measures on him but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Kelly said.

Giacomoni was wearing a ski mask and gloves when he was found and a passenger in the truck, whose name has not yet been released, was found in possession of stolen property and drug paraphernalia, according to Kelly.

The sergeant said Giacomoni:

“has a very extensive criminal history for weapons, violence and a multitude of other crimes.”

He said investigators are checking to see if the pair might have committed any crimes in the area prior to the contact with deputies.