By Shari Kaplan
A motorcyclist who had several outstanding warrants died in Los Gatos Sept. 3 after a high-speed pursuit in which his efforts to elude police were halted only when he crashed his motorcycle, police said.
At around 11:20 p.m. that night, Los Gatos Police Officer David Fishback was patrolling Win-chester Boulevard near Lark Avenue when he observed 44-year-old Richard Thomson of San Jose on a Suzuki sportbike, following too closely behind another vehicle and flashing the motorcycle's high-beam headlight.
After Thomson made an unsafe lane change, LGPD Sgt. Tricia Friedrich reported, Fishback turned on his patrol car's emergency lights in an attempt to stop the motorcycle on Lark Avenue. Thomson did not stop, but fled at a high rate of speed eastbound on Lark Avenue.
Soon after he turned onto southbound Los Gatos Boulevard, his helmet flew off, but he did not stop. He then turned westbound on Blossom Hill Road, where he drove on the wrong side of the roadway and happened to pass another Los Gatos police patrol car.
As Thomson approached University Avenue, with Fishback still in pursuit, he apparently lost control of the motorcycle, which brushed a curb and hit a light pole. Thomson was thrown in the air and landed in nearby bushes.
Central Fire District personnel and American Medical Response paramedics treated the unconscious Thomson at the scene. He was taken to Valley Medical Center in San Jose, where he was pronounced dead at 12:20 a.m. on Sept. 4.
The Coroner's Office discovered marijuana and suspected methamphetamine packaged for sale in Thomson's pants, as well as $500 in cash. According to police he also had outstanding felony warrants for assault with a deadly weapon, spousal abuse and assault on a police officer, as well as misdemeanor warrants for reckless driving and driving a motorcycle without proper licensing.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, September 11, 1996.
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