Modesto man chasing suspected robbers crashes into house

A man chasing four people suspected of robbing his 13-year-old son’s cellphone lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a house in southeast Modesto on Tuesday evening.

Melissa Neal was inside her home at Los Verdes Court and Haddon Avenue when she heard a loud crash just before 7 p.m.

“The whole house shook,” she said. “I was scared so I called 911; I came out and saw a hole in the wall.”

There was an explanation for the hole, but the vehicle that caused it was gone. Neal said she went back inside her home to wait for emergency personnel when she heard a knock at her door from the mother the of the man who crashed into her house.

The woman said her son was chasing men who’d robbed her grandson.

“She looked really worried about her son and the phone,” Neal said.

Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Heather Graves said the robbery occurred about a half-mile away in the 2700 block of Barcelona Drive.

She said the men punched the 13-year-old victim in the stomach and took his cellphone.

The men ran from the scene, she said, and the boy’s father got in his vehicle and chased after them. He was going west on Haddon when he lost control at Los Verdes and crashed into the house.

Graves said she did not know why the boy’s driver did not stay at the scene or when he returned, but said he was not charged with hit-and-run. His insurance information was eventually given to Neal.

The suspected robbers remain at large; no description of them was available Wednesday.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 1:53 PM with the headline "Modesto man chasing suspected robbers crashes into house."