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A man who allegedly ran a stop sign while on the phone in eastern Menlo Park, led a Menlo Park police officer on a high-speed chase and crashed into another car has been sentenced to two years in state prison.

Evaimalo Palemene, 36, was approached on July 11, 2016, by a Menlo Park police officer patrolling on a motorcycle after the driver ran a stop sign going northbound on Hamilton Avenue at Sage Street while talking on his cell phone, according to prosecutors.

When the officer tried to pull him over, he made a U-turn and sped away, going 50 miles per hour in a 30-miles-per-hour zone on Hamilton Avenue, prosecutors said.

The chase ended when a driver broadsided another car that was leaving the Chevron gas station at Hamilton Avenue and Willow Road, prosecutors said.

The car spun out and collided with a fire hydrant, while the driver, Mr. Palemene, fled into the nearby strip mall. In pursuit, the officer hit a curb with her motorcycle and was thrown into a light pole and broke her wrist. Eventually, Mr. Palemene was found hiding in the bushes near railroad tracks, according to prosecutors.

Mr. Palemene on Dec. 5 pleaded no contest two felonies: evading a police officer, and resisting arrest in a way that injured a police officer, and was sentenced Jan. 20, according to Karen Guidotti, chief deputy of the county district attorney office.

He remains in custody on $100,000 bail and will get 388 days’ credit for the time he has already served. He will also have to receive genetic marker testing and pay $400 in various fines and restitution in an amount still to be determined, prosecutors said.

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3 Comments

  1. So 388 days credit on a 2 year sentence. By my math he will be out as the sentence is 50% as long as he behaves…. POGO / Peter?
    My thought is he should not be…..but..

  2. He should be sentenced to more time. He’s done more than a year in county jail. He needs to go to PRISON. He could have killed the person he hit and he caused a serious injury to a police officer.

  3. He got the time that he is eligible under the law and sentencing guidelines. 2017 California is a reflection of the voters will. He plead no contest and accepted responsibility from the beginning . I suspect this is a fair sentence considering

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