At about 7:49pm Wednesday, Turlock Police, Turlock Fire, and American Medical Response responded to a traffic collision with injuries at Lander Avenue and northbound Highway 99.

When Officer Ruiz arrived on scene, he found three vehicles involved. The driver of one of the vehicles, later identified as Nicolas Espino, 37, of Modesto, took off running onto the freeway.

Several officers converged on the area, including Officer Diaz and Canine Ace.

Canine announcements were given to Espino, who refused to comply.

At 7:57pm, K9 Ace bit Espino and apprehended him.

Officers transported Espino to a nearby gas station parking lot and requested American Medical Response due to an injury caused by the canine apprehension.

Back at the collision scene, one of the involved parties complained of chest pain.

Espino was determined to be under the influence of alcohol and it was discovered he had been involved in a pursuit with Ceres Police a few hours prior.

An open and cold-to-the-touch Modelo tallboy can was also located in Espino’s vehicle.

At 4:00pm, Ceres Police Detective Petersen attempted to make a traffic stop on southbound Highway 99 near Fourth Street in Ceres.

The vehicle’s driver, later discovered to be Espino, exhibited dangerous behavior, including nearly side-swiping another vehicle and tailgating.

Espino continued to drive slowly down the freeway, until eventually stopping under the Pine Street overpass.

As Petersen and additional officers approached Espino’s vehicle, they noticed it was still in drive. After ordering Espino to put the vehicle in park, he refused. Instead, Espino rolled up his vehicle’s windows and fled at a high rate of speed.

Officers pursued Espino for a short time, but he evaded capture and was last seen exiting the freeway onto E. Keyes Road. Officers searched the area for Espino but were unable to relocate him.

After the pursuit, Petersen obtained a $100,000 felony Ramey warrant accusing Espino of fleeing from a peace officer by vehicle with disregard for public safety, resisting a peace officer, and violation of probation. He also obtained a vehicle seizure warrant.

It should be noted that Espino’s probation was also for fleeing from a peace officer by vehicle with disregard for public safety and he had a suspended driver’s license due to a prior DUI conviction.

Espino was transported by American Medical Response to Doctors Medical Center for treatment and medical clearance.

Afterward, Espino was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or greater causing injury, failing to stop at the scene of an accident resulting in injury or death, resisting a peace officer, driving with a suspended license due to a DUI conviction, violation of probation, and his warrant.

Espino was also issued a driver’s license suspension order and his vehicle was towed and stored for 30 days pursuant to the seizure warrant.

None of the involved officers or K9 Ace were injured during the incident.

K9 Ace joined the Turlock Police Department in April 2020 and was assigned to Officer Diaz. He’s a six-year-old Belgian Shepinois and his purchase was made almost entirely possibly by a donation from the Tri-County Blue Line Alliance.

Ace and the department’s two other dogs and their handlers train with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office twice a month. Their training focuses on patrol skills, including apprehension, building searches, evidence searches, handler protection, narcotics detection, open area searches, scene security, and tracking.

Ace has had hundreds of deployments since starting patrol work in the summer of 2020 and this was his second bite.