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Suspect gives officer quite a foot chase
Lockwood
Drug suspect Ronald Lockwood III, 31, of Modesto, was arrested after leading an officer a foot chase through numerous yards last week. - photo by Courtesy of Ceres Police

A Ceres Police officer was led on a fence-hopping chase through a number of residential backyards on Monday morning, July 13, which ended with a struggle with the suspect who was carrying drugs.

A 911 caller reported at 9:24 a.m. that a suspicious man was peeking through fence planks in the alley between Sixth and Seventh streets and at one time jumping into a backyard. The officer showed up and saw Ronald Lockwood III, 31, of Modesto, peeking through a fence. When Lockwood spotted the approaching officer he bolted through an opening in the fence at 2129 Seventh Street. The officer gave chase through the yard onto Seventh Street. Lockwood was told to stop but that prompted him to run faster, said Ceres Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jose Berber.

At that point Lockwood jumped into another backyard and started jumping fences south on Mary Street with the officer gaining on him. The chase ended at Mary Street and Seventh Street. Lockwood started to put a hand in his pocket and was pushed to the ground by the officer who then wrestled him and refused to surrender. At one point Lockwood grabbed the officer by the shirt and reached into his pants pocket. The struggle ended in arrest when a second officer came on scene.

Police believe that Lockwood was attempting to reach a glass meth pipe in his pocket. The officer went back to the location where Lockwood was spotted and found a piece of foil with heroin.

Lockwood was arrested and charged with resisting or delaying an officer, possession of a meth pipe and possession of a controlled substance.