(KRON) — A dramatic police chase in the South Bay ended in a crash that totaled Brian Dietz’s pickup truck and damaged several other vehicles. The incident occurred after Dietz’s ex-girlfriend, Lisabet Acosta Carbajal, allegedly stole the truck and led police on a pursuit.
The chase began when Carbajal, who had moved to Arizona, visited Dietz unexpectedly on October 1. Dietz claims she was intoxicated and stole his truck keys despite his attempts to stop her. Carbajal then drove off, hitting Dietz’s arm with the truck as she sped away.
“I was at home minding my own business half asleep when a drunk ex-girlfriend barged into my house being belligerent,” Dietz said. “All I heard was my neighbor saying, ‘Brian, Brian, she’s got your truck.’ I ran outside. She came barreling down the street.”
Security footage captured the truck speeding down a residential street near Redwood City. Menlo Park police quickly located Carbajal driving the stolen vehicle and initiated a pursuit. The chase ended on Second Avenue when Carbajal rolled the truck, hitting multiple cars.
Dietz rushed to the scene and described the aftermath: “The whole street was shutdown, you could see three cars on one side and three cars on the other. She totaled eight cars including mine.”
East Palo Alto police reported that 29-year-old Carbajal was taken to the hospital and then booked into county jail on charges of vehicle theft, DUI, and evading police.
Dietz expressed relief that Carbajal was not seriously injured, stating, “I’m glad she wasn’t hurt. She just had a few scratches on her leg. If she hadn’t been in that truck she would have died — it saved her.”
Dietz lamented the loss of his truck, which he had invested $80,000 into over the years, including $40,000 worth of tools that fell out during the chase.
“I’ve had that truck for 5 years and I love that truck. It’s my work truck. I pull trailers with lumber and I build decks and all kinds of stuff. My livelihood is taken away — I can’t get to work,” he said.
A friend of Dietz has set up a GoFundMe page to help him recover from the loss. “Anything you could contribute I would appreciate. I do what I can for people because I believe what comes around goes around you know. It’d be nice if it came back to me. I’ve never had that,” Dietz commented.
Dietz plans to salvage parts from the totaled truck to use in a new one, with donations from the GoFundMe page aiding his efforts to get back to work.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
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