# San Francisco Cruisers Collide During Chase



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*









IBS/KTVU

Officer Nick-Tomasito Birco was killed in a seperate pursuit two weeks ago.
*

*Story by ktvu.com*

San Francisco police had a painful sense of déjà vu early Tuesday. Two police cruisers collided in a frightening crash during the pursuit of a robbery suspect in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. 
Fortunately, there were only minor injuries in the accident. That wasn't the case nearly two weeks ago when Officer Nick-Tomasito Birco was killed during an early morning pursuit of robbery suspects. 
Steven Petrilli, 19, Carl Lather, 21, and Nicholas Smith, 21, have all been charged with one count of murder, two counts of robbery, one count of attempted robbery, one count of evading a police officer causing death and one count of vehicular manslaughter in that crash, according to the district attorney's office. 
Christina Lee was on her way to drop a friend off when she witnessed the robbery. 
"At first I thought it was a drug deal going down," she said. "I saw one guy pull out his wallet and as soon as he opened it, they hit him in the head...Three of them ran down an alley and I chased them." 
A 911 robbery in progress call quickly brought police to the area and they joined the chase on foot. 
Sgt. Linda Wittcop was responding her in squad car when she collided near Stockton and Vallejo with another squad car. 
Nearby David Belluomini watched the crash. 
"I went over to one of the cars and the police sergeant was there," he said. "We asked if she needed assistance and she said 'Yea, can you get me out of here.'" 
Wittcop was taken to a local hospital and treated and released with minor injuries. 
Three suspects -- two juveniles and an adult -- were taken into custody. A fourth suspect remained at large. 
Copyright 2006 by . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


----------

