A traffic stop turned into a high-speed pursuit across the Sierra after a driver allegedly hit a Placerville police officer with his pickup truck and took off. The chase reached speeds of more than 100 mph before ending in a rollover near South Lake Tahoe.
The driver, identified as 48-year-old Scot Cameron Hiltabrand II, was arrested on Nov. 6 at about 7:30 p.m. on U.S. 50 at Lisa Maloff Way in South Lake Tahoe.
Placerville police officers initially tried to stop Hiltabrand on suspicion of stalking a woman. During the encounter, he allegedly struck a uniformed officer with his silver Toyota Tacoma before fleeing eastbound on U.S. 50.
California Highway Patrol officers from the Placerville area took over the pursuit just west of Fresh Pond. CHP officers from the South Lake Tahoe area and El Dorado County sheriff's deputies also joined the effort.
As the pursuit approached Meyers, deputies and CHP officers coordinated traffic control to clear road construction crews from the likely path of the chase.
Deputies deployed spike strips at two locations along U.S. 50. Hiltabrand continued driving on two flat tires before losing control of the Tacoma near the South Lake Tahoe city limits. The truck rolled onto its roof.
CHP officers, with help from an El Dorado County sheriff's K-9 deputy, took Hiltabrand into custody.
He was booked into the El Dorado County Jail on suspicion of recklessly evading law enforcement, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, and resisting an officer.
