Two suspected Oakland car thieves allegedly led officers on a chase down Interstate 80 during which a bullet — or a handgun itself — hit the windshield of a police cruiser after one of the thieves tossed the weapon out of the car, authorities said.
The men were taken into custody early Saturday morning after the chase, which began when a Fairfield police officer tried pulling over a red Hyundai that had license plates belonging to a Jeep, according to the Fairfield Police Department.
The Hyundai took off and got onto westbound Interstate 80 — at which point someone tossed a gun out of the car that discharged once it hit the pavement, the police department reported on its Facebook page. Either the bullet — or the gun itself — then hit the windshield of one of the pursuing police cruisers, police said.
Officers caught the Hyundai’s driver, a 40-year-old Oakland man, after he pulled into a Hercules shopping center, police said. A 35-year-old Oakland man who got out of the car and ran away was later caught with the help of a San Pablo police K9 team.
Police said they later found drugs in the car, which had been reported stolen out of Oakland.
