Atwater mobile home park at center of 2 police pursuits

Separate and unrelated vehicle pursuits Wednesday night in Atwater both involved people coming and going from the Camilla Mobile Home Park, the Police Department reported today.

“The trailer park … has been a recent problem, with squatters breaking in and taking over the trailers in the park,” Lt. Samuel Joseph said. “It appears many of the homeless, gang members and drug addicts have moved there.”

One vehicle pursuit ended at the mobile home park Wednesday about an hour before a second, unrelated pursuit began at the same location, police said.

Donald G. Mesa, 59, was arrested after the first pursuit with Atwater police, Joseph told the Sun-Star. Mesa allegedly refused to pull over when officers tried to stop him for driving a blue 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck with expired registration tags, police said.

Officers attempted to stop the pickup around 5:45 p.m. on Maple Street. Police said Mesa obeyed all stop signs during the pursuit and never exceeded speeds of 30 mph.

The pickup headed east onto Drakeley Avenue and continued on several roads before eventually heading into the Camilla Mobile Home Park on Atwater Boulevard, where Mesa was taken into custody at gunpoint, police said.

Mesa has been arrested more than a dozen times since 2012. He was still in custody Thursday without bail, according to police and Merced County jail records.

A second, unrelated vehicle pursuit ended in Atwater around 7 p.m. when the driver of a white Acura Legend crashed into the guardrail on the Sultana Drive exit of northbound Highway 99, Atwater police said.

The driver and a passenger in the vehicle fled the scene, Joseph said.

Police on Thursday arrested a 16-year-old boy they believe was the passenger of the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle had not been arrested as of Thursday evening. No suspect description was released.

The pursuit started in the Camilla Mobile Home Park, officers said, when the unidentified driver pulled out in front of an Atwater police vehicle and tossed a glass beer bottle out of the vehicle.

The Acura did not stop when officers tried to pull it over and, instead, accelerated south through the trailer park and westbound on Atwater Boulevard, police said.

Officers followed the vehicle onto northbound Highway 99 but stopped chasing it out of concern for public safety as speeds reached more than 120 mph, police said.

The vehicle crashed into the guardrail a short time later. The California Highway Patrol and Merced County Sheriff’s Department joined Atwater police during the search for the suspects without success.

“It was later discovered that there was in fact a near fight at the Camilla trailer park where Norteño gang members, a group of black males and other trailer residents exchanged threats of violence, including the use of firearms,” Joseph said.

Joseph said residents of the mobile home park did not provide police with much information regarding the incident, and no victims were identified.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact the Atwater Police Department at (209) 357-6396. Tips are confidential and callers may remain anonymous.

This story was originally published December 18, 2014 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Atwater mobile home park at center of 2 police pursuits."