Police: Man Threw Grenade From Stolen Car During Wild Chase

When California troops picked up a bag that had been thrown from a stolen car that was trying to get away from police, they found a live grenade inside.

When the news came out, people in nearby homes had to leave, and the bomb squad had to come out and safely take the device away.

A press statement says that the incident happened just after 3:30 p.m. on Friday, when California Highway Patrol troopers saw a stolen car near Oakland’s 38th Street and Cerrito Avenue. When they tried to pull the car over, the driver, later identified as Carlos Kuceja, 28, reportedly ran away. The chase went all the way into the city of Berkeley. Police say Kuceja threw a bag out of the driver’s side window as he got close to the crossing of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Rose Street.

A policeman who wasn’t part of the chase but was in the area stopped to get the bag.

“When the officer looked inside, he saw what looked like a grenade with part of the safety pin missing,” cops said.

The California Highway Patrol called the bomb squad from the nearby University of California, Berkeley. The bomb squad arrived and said the grenade was “live and capable of detonating.”

Kuceja, meanwhile, is said to have left his car and begun to run away, but he was quickly caught and arrested. As police checked Kuceja’s car for more explosives, nearby homes were evacuated. When cops checked and saw that there were none, they let people go back to their homes soon after.

Kuceja’s home in Berkeley was also searched, and people who lived close had to leave their homes, but nothing was found.

The defendant is now being charged with several crimes, such as having a destructive device, stealing a car, and avoiding police. He was still in the Alameda County Jail on a $490,000 bond on Monday afternoon. It is set for him to show up in court on Tuesday.