Police identify suspect in crash of stolen car in Modesto
The driver of a stolen car who blew through a stop sign and struck another car Sunday afternoon at Woodland and Diablo avenues in Modesto has been identified by police as Calem Paulk, 24. The crash sent him and two men in another car to local hospitals with injuries that ranged from minor to major, according to a Modesto Fire Department report.
Shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday, an officer spotted Paulk, a stolen-vehicle suspect, in the area of The Home Depot store at Blue Gum Avenue and North Carpenter Road, police Sgt. Pat Kimes said at the scene.
The officer attempted a traffic stop. Paulk pulled over the 1998 green Honda Civic, but then got out and ran, Kimes said. During a foot chase, Paulk circled back, got into the Civic again and drove off, the sergeant said.
Officers began to look for the stolen car — there never was a pursuit — and about a minute later heard the report of the crash, Kimes said. Paulk was northbound on Diablo when he entered ignored a stop sign and entered the Woodland intersection at high speed.
The Civic struck a westbound late-1990s model Honda Accord occupied by two men. The impact left both cars on the property of a home at the northeast corner of the intersection.
Paulk was handcuffed before being extricated from the Civic, in which he was pinned. He cried out in pain as he was put on a gurney. One of the men in the Accord also was pinned in.
The two men in the Accord were treated and released from a local hospital, Police Department spokeswoman Sharon Bear said Monday. She said Paulk’s injuries were classified as major.
Paulk has a history of vehicle theft arrests and convictions going back until at least 2015. He was not in the Stanislaus County inmate custody log Monday because he remained hospitalized.
He will face charges of vehicle theft, possession of stolen property and resisting arrest, Bear said.
