A felon fleeing Petaluma law enforcement ended up on a chilly ranch in Marshall last Friday night, where he hid from police, dogs and helicopters until two officers returned the following morning to find him hiding in a ravine on the property.
Brian Bakalar, a 45-year-old Petaluma man, was arrested for evading police and for an outstanding warrant. He was booked in Sonoma County Jail.
Some Marshall residents were upset with law enforcement that night, saying they were left guessing what was happening as spotlights shone on their homes. Meanwhile they called neighbors and gleaned bits of information about Mr. Bakalar.
The felon arrived just a couple hours after power along the Marshall-Petaluma Road had gone out, literally leaving the search area in the dark.
Mr. Bakalar was first spotted in Petaluma driving a silver B.M.W. similar to a vehicle belonging to a suspect in a nearby domestic dispute, according to Petaluma police sergeant Brian Miller.
Though Mr. Bakalar was not involved in the domestic dispute, he sped away, blasting through stop signs when an officer attempted to pull him over.
The ensuing 26-mile chase on winding country roads—from Point Reyes-Petaluma Road to Hicks Valley Road to the Marshall-Petaluma Road—at moments reached 85 miles per hour. During the pursuit, police realized there was an outstanding warrant for the owner of the vehicle because he was a felon recently found in possession of a firearm. (He was not armed that night, Sgt. Miller said.)
The chased slowed in Marin because the B.M.W. and at least two police cars were stuck behind a milk truck, Lt. Pittman said. Though the suspect quickly passed the truck, police were momentarily stuck.
Mr. Bakalar drove down a ranch road on property owned by Rick and Ronny Giacomini, but was stopped by a closed gate. As Mr. Bakalar exited his car, the pursuing officers waited for other law enforcement to arrive because of the man’s history of being armed.
Numerous officers from Marin and Sonoma Sheriff’s Offices and California Highway Patrol searched the area with dogs while a highway patrol helicopter shone a light overhead.
But Mr. Bakalar was nowhere to be found on the almost moonless evening, and police called off the search at around midnight.
“It’s such a rural location that we have the advantage,” Lt. Pittman said. “People flee, thinking they’re gonna drive away into some rural location… and the fact is they get lost and they don’t know north from south.”
Soon after sunrise, two Marin officers returned to the ranch. Within a few minutes they found the suspect crouching in a ravine not far from his car. Mr. Bakalar, who was chilled from his evening in the field, admitted to being the driver of the B.M.W., the police report said.
“He was a popsicle. There was indication of hypothermia, but we had medics… who checked him out to make sure he was okay,” Lt. Pittman said.
During the search the night before, officers had contacted a few neighbors. But some Marshall residents—some near, some a bit further afield—criticized law enforcement for not contacting the whole neighborhood. Even those not living adjacent to the ranch could see or hear the chase and spy the helicopter looming above, leaving many fearing what kind of criminal might be in their midst.
Corey Goodman, who lives with his wife, Marcia Barinaga, on a neighboring ranch, saw the helicopters and police cars—which temporarily blocked the Marshall-Petaluma Road—at around 8 p.m., a few hours after power had gone out in homes along that road. (The couple had a generator.) Calls from neighbors started pouring in, everyone seeking answers.
Mr. Goodman felt the Sheriff’s Office should have told the couple—as well as other residents—that a felon was on the loose. They also should have notified people when the search was called off and when, the next day, the suspect was in custody.
“For all of the emergency preparedness that the police have encouraged in our community, during this one time we needed them, they provided no communication,” said Mr. Goodman, who found out the man had been caught when he called the sheriff’s substation on Saturday afternoon.
It was “a dark community with no power, and with some sort of fugitive on one of our ranches. How well would anyone have slept that night?” Mr. Goodman said.
Marshall resident Rich Clarke was sitting down to dinner with his family when they spotted a helicopter circling overhead. They were nervous. When the helicopter left they assumed the suspect had been apprehended, but just before going to bed they learned he was still on the lam. Mr. Clarke called neighbors, telling them to lock their doors.
“It was quite unsettling to be left in the dark without communication from law enforcement and knowing a fugitive was on the loose,” he said.
Steven Hurwitz, who lives adjacent to the Giacomini ranch, said officers notified someone at his property about the search. But he heard about the subsequent capture through the local grapevine. “It was all one person telling another. Someone saw a patrol car going around with him in back seat,” he said.
Lt. Pittman, who said police contacted people at the Giacomini ranch as well as two neighbors with the aid of a local man they ran into, was disappointed to hear there were residents upset with communication that night.
It’s easier to make contact in dense city neighborhoods and in daylight, he said. But, he added, “I can honestly say we made a full effort to contact as many people as we could. Had this been a horrific murder suspect, it would have been a much, much different approach.”