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Galt Burglary Suspects In Critical Condition After Car Flips During Police Pursuit

GALT (CBS13) - Two burglary suspects being pursued out of Galt by police were badly injured after the car they were in flipped and hit a telephone pole Tuesday afternoon.

The car flipped over on a frontage road near Peltier Road off Highway 99 at about 3 p.m.

Galt police officers were pursuing the car south on Highway 99 and the chase reached speeds in excess of 100 mph as the suspect vehicle weaved in and out of traffic before it severed the pole in half and flipped over. The car rolled off the highway onto the frontage road.

Both suspects were taken to an area hospital and Galt police said one of the men was in very grave condition Tuesday night. Both sustained major injuries.

Police say the suspects were behind burglaries in Lodi and Galt on Tuesday morning.

Galt police responded to an in-progress residential burglary in the 900 block of Whitford Court shortly after 11 a.m. The victim reported a man knocked on her front door and when she did not answer, the subject went around the back of her home and attempted to break into the rear door. The woman left and went to a neighbor to call police.

The woman talked to CBS13's Nick Janes Tuesday night and said men came by the house Monday asking for her daughter. She said she was spooked when one came back Tuesday and she didn't answer her door.

"Today he came back about 10:30, 10:45 and I knew something was wrong," Gloria Diaz-Gastelum said. "He kept ringing the doorbell and when I didn't open he tried the doorknob. Suddenly I realized they were trying to break into my house, breaking windows, more than one fellow."

She fled to a neighbor's house and when police arrived, the suspects were gone. During a search of the area neighbors reported seeing two Hispanic men driving through the neighborhood in a maroon car around the same time as the attempted burglary.

At about 2:45 p.m. detectives were near the Galt Market and attempted to contact three Hispanic males standing next to a maroon car matching the description from the earlier call. At about the same time, Lodi police contacted Galt police and said they were also investigating an earlier residential burglary involving three Hispanic men driving a maroon car.

They were able to provide a partial license plate which matched the vehicle located by detectives. Two of the men entered the car and fled the scene while detectives were able to detain the third subject.

He was identified as Henry Ramirez, 21. Ramirez had property taken in the Lodi burglary and was booked into custody for possession of stolen property, police said.

"I feel a little bit better because at least I know who they were and if they were arrested they're not coming back tonight," Diaz-Gastelum said.

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