Crash Kills S.F. Police Captain After Shootout

A police captain was killed in a car accident, hours after his squad was involved in a dramatic shootout with a bank robbery suspect.

George Stasko died after his unmarked police car swerved off Interstate 101 in Somona County and struck a tree early Saturday. He was driving to his Santa Rosa home at the time and apparently had fallen asleep at the wheel, Police Chief Fred Lau said.

“His willingness to take on people who were such dangerous criminals earned him a lot of respect,” said U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman Larry Bush, who worked with Stasko for 15 years.

Stasko’s unit killed Buford White in a barrage of gunfire in downtown San Francisco late Friday afternoon after a bungled heist at a Bank of America branch.

Antonio Castillo, a bystander who was shot in the head while trying to tackle the suspect, remained in critical condition Sunday. Two officers were shot in the leg. A second suspect was being sought.

At a news conference late Sunday, Castillo’s older sister and aunt said they were “not surprised at what he had done.”

His aunt Dorothy Moen described the 26-year-old as fun-loving, compassionate and protective. “He would have done anything to protect someone if they were in danger,” Moen said.

Meanwhile, White’s family said the suspect was a law-abiding citizen until he became addicted to crack cocaine.

White, whose criminal record spanned 17 years, was on federal probation from a 1991 holdup of another downtown San Francisco Bank of America branch that led to a police chase across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Police said White’s robbery attempt Friday resembled several unsolved heists in the east Bay Area.