Bay Area Chase Causes Shutdown of 8 Miles of U.S. 101 for 4 Hours

A man who police believe is mentally ill was captured Friday after leading officers on a high-speed chase across the Bay Area and, once stopped, dousing himself and the car he was driving with gasoline.

The incident in the morning rush hour closed an eight-mile stretch of southbound U.S. Highway 101 south of San Francisco for four hours, but authorities said the backup was reduced because traffic was relatively light on the long Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Authorities identified the man as Robert B. Sidicane, 41, of Nashville. He was booked at San Mateo County jail, accused of reckless driving, felony evading arrest and resisting arrest.

Police said the motorist had fled about 5:30 a.m. from California Highway Patrol officers who had stopped to assist him by the roadside along Highway 580 in suburban Livermore.

“When we had him in custody, he was asked why he didn’t stop,” said Officer Christian Oliver, a CHP spokesman in Redwood City. “He told officers: ‘I had more important things to do.’

“His mental condition is being assessed,” Oliver said.

Reaching speeds of 100 mph, police chased the red Oldsmobile for 40 miles as the driver darted through traffic on the Bay Bridge and south on U.S. 101 between San Francisco and San Jose.

Three of the car’s four tires were blown out by a spike strip, but the man drove on the rims for another eight miles before finally coming to a halt.

Officers ended the standoff after four hours by spraying the car with firefighting foam after seeing Sidicane douse himself with fluid from a red container.

“We did an inventory of the car and found five one-gallon containers of gasoline,” Oliver said.

The incident caused the Bay Area’s second tie-up this week in during a morning rush hour.

Police on Wednesday shot a man who they say had killed a woman and then kidnapped his estranged wife and held her at gunpoint on a freeway overpass near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

That standoff forced officials to close all but one of the bridge’s westbound lanes.