Suspected Burglar Leads Police on Wild 5-Hour Chase

A 28-year-old suspected burglar led police and multiple law enforcement agencies on a wild, allegedly drug-fueled and half-naked foot chase through the hills of Cascade Canyon Monday before he was arrested fully naked on Throckmorton Avenue near the , officials said.

The chase’s proximity and authorities’ belief that the suspect had a violent past caused police to put on lockdown briefly at the end of the school day, Mill Valley Police Lt. Ken Dunkel said. The suspect allegedly entered at least one home during the chase, climbed multiple roofs and jumped off 10-foot-high deck patios in the course of evading police, Dunkel said.

Mill Valley resident Colin Michael Kane, 28, was arrested at around 3:30 p.m. on suspicion of residential burglary, auto burglary, possession of stolen property, drug possession, resisting arrest and other charges.

Dunkel said the incident began when police received a report that a suspicious subject was looking into cars in the area around the Union Bank in the 400 block of Miller Avenue.

As police responded to the area, the man reportedly got into a car and drove towards downtown, with police suspecting that the man stole the car, Dunkel said.

Police located a car matching the description of the car in the hills near Molino Avenue and officer Joshua Longoria spotted a man on foot matching the description of the suspect.

The description of the car led police to believe that the suspect had an extensive history of weapons and firearms violations as well as violent felony assaults and attempted murder. Police later learned that the suspect was merely an associate of the man with the violent history, Dunkel said.

When the suspect saw Longoria, he ran down a steep hillside through thick vegetation with Longoria in pursuit. At that point, Marin County Sheriff’s deputies and officers from Tiburon, Belvedere and Twin Cities police department joined the chase.

That pursuit lasted for nearly five hours, with Kane, reportedly running without shoes and naked from the waist down, covering an area that included Old Mill Park and neighborhoods along Throckmorton, Molino, Lovell and Cornelia avenues, as well as Cascade Drive, according to Dunkel. During that time, police requested a pair of search dogs and a helicopter from the Petaluma Police Department but those resources were not deployed, Dunkel said.

As officers began to contain Kane, who was spotted hiding in several residential backyards, the chase got closer to Old Mill School. Because of the suspect’s reported violent past and with the end of the school day at Old Mill approaching, Dunkel and four other officers went to Old Mill and put the school on lockdown, surrounding the campus and preparing for a modified parent-student pickup strategy.

Old Mill students, which did not include fifth graders on a three-day visit to Walker Creek Ranch, were restricted to their classrooms and all doors were locked, Old Mill School Principal Kandee Adams said.

Old Mill Parents were notified of the lockdown at 2:36 p.m. via email. An email 20 minutes later notified parents that the lockdown had been lifted.

“The police did a fantastic job and the parents, students and staff were all very calm through the process,” Old Mill Principal Kandee Adams said.

As officers conducted a house-by-house search, a completely naked Kane was spotted at around 3 p.m. in the 400 block of Throckmorton near Josephine Avenue. He tried to flee but surrendered as officers drew their Taser guns, Dunkel said. Kane appeared to be under the influence of narcotics, he added.

Kane was booked into Marin County Jail.