CHP Arrests Man Wanted in Wrong-Way Chase, Berkeley Crash

A Concord man, who reportedly drove the wrong way for 30 miles on East Bay freeways earlier this month and fled from authorities after crashing into another motorist in Berkeley, has been arrested.

The California Highway Patrol arrested Jerome Wingert, 33, at around 3:10 a.m. Wednesday at a Berkeley hotel. The arrest was made by CHP officers with assistance from Berkeley police, according to CHP spokesman Officer Clayton Nett.

Wingert has been involved in at least two other high-profile pursuits with Bay Area law enforcement agencies over the past seven years, according to media reports.

The recent chase began at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, May 17, in Concord when police there spotted Wingert in a Honda Accord that had been reported stolen, according to Officer Sean Wilkenfeld, a CHP spokesman. Wingert evaded officers, the CHP says, traveling in the wrong direction on the freeway for about 30 miles, before exiting in Berkeley. There, police say he crashed into an SUV near the corner of Hearst Avenue and California Street. The SUV's driver, Zaya Yaro, 45, of Santa Clara, suffered minor injuries in the collision.

Officers aided by a CHP helicopter and a Richmond police canine searched the neighborhood for several hours, but he managed to avoid capture. The California Highway Patrol says it continued to investigate the incident and ultimately identified Wingert as the driver of the stolen Honda.

According to police scanner recordings, Wingert called the CHP as officers followed him and told them to call off the pursuit. He told dispatchers he did not want to go back to jail.

Accounts of Two Earlier Chases

In 2008 and 2011, Wingert made headlines after high-profile chases in Lafayette and Martinez that culminated in his arrest.

In 2008, he allegedly crashed a stolen vehicle in Lafayette, then jumped onto the roof of a passing SUV to try to get away from officers. He managed to cling to the roof for several minutes before an officer stopped the vehicle and took Wingert into custody on suspicion of felony evading, carrying a loaded firearm and possession of stolen property, according to the Contra Costa Times. Authorities said, in that incident, Wingert also took to the freeway, driving against traffic to try to escape capture.

Three years later, Wingert was involved in another chase that led a Contra Costa sheriff's spokeswoman to describe him as “a menace ... wanted by several agencies for several things.”

That June 2011 chase involved four law enforcement agencies who had tried to arrest Wingert on suspicion of armed robbery. Wingert led officers on a “wild chase through two cities and a freeway” after they tried to stop him in Concord, according to media reports.

At one point in the 2011 chase, Wingert was involved in a wrong-way chase on Highway 4. Police ultimately arrested him and another man, Nicholas Haro, in Martinez after they got off the freeway. According to Martinez Patch, “Both men asked for medical assistance shortly after being stopped ... claiming that they were suffering from anxiety attacks.”

The men were arrested in that case on suspicion of being parolees at large, robbery, burglary, fleeing and resisting arrest, according to the Martinez News-Gazette. A reporter for that paper wrote a firsthand account of nearly colliding with Wingert as he barreled toward her on the freeway while fleeing from police at an estimated 120 mph.

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