NEWARK (BCN) – A 29-year-old Hayward man fled across an estimated nine rooftops before Newark police officers apprehended him in connection with a shoplifting incident Sunday afternoon.
Officers were on extra patrol in the 5000 block of Thornton Avenue in response to recent reports of shoplifting in the area, when they first saw the suspect at about 5 p.m.
Police said the man walked out of a business holding two buckets of merchandise. When he saw officers, he dropped the buckets and ran into a nearby residential neighborhood.
Officers saw the suspect scale a backyard fence before reappearing on a rooftop, where he proceeded to leap from rooftop to neighboring rooftop.
Shortly thereafter, officers found the man walking on a sidewalk nearby and arrested him for suspicion of multiple offenses, including shoplifting, probation violation, possession of drugs and prowling on private property, as well as for an active felony warrant related to gun possession in Southern California.
They booked him into Fremont Jail.