Police save vaccine batch after high-speed pursuit of robbery suspects

Police arrested a man and a teen boy suspected of robbing a woman at a bank’s ATM Wednesday afternoon and helped to save a batch of COVID-19 vaccines in the process.

At about 12:20 p.m., Antioch officers responded to a call about a 33-year-old woman being robbed at gunpoint while depositing money into the Wells Fargo ATM at 5859 Lone Tree Way, according to police officials.

The suspects were soon seen driving a four-door dark gray Infiniti sedan on westbound state Highway 4 at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour, police said.

Pittsburg police then spotted the car near Los Medanos College and tried to disable it using spike strips near East Leland Road and Harbor Street.

The driver avoided the strips, ran into two civilian vehicles and ended up crashing into a pole at the intersection of East Leland Road and William Way, according to police.

After a foot chase, one suspect was caught by a police K-9 unit and the other was found hiding in a nearby backyard, police said.

The two suspects, who are 17 and 21 years of age, were treated for undisclosed injuries after being apprehended, according to police.

No other injuries were reported, but one of the cars that the suspects crashed into was carrying Covid-19 vaccine.

Pittsburg police officials said in a Facebook post Friday:

“One of our quick-thinking officers recognized the need to get these vaccines to their destination quickly and escorted the delivery himself.”

According to the post:

“The precious vaccines made it to a local pharmacy and, we presume, into the arms of folks eager to get the vaccine.”