Busy Night for Moraga Police

Patchers with their ear to the ground of their neighborhoods this weekend were wondering what was happening in Moraga late Friday night and early Saturday morning.

It appears the men and women of MPD were very busy, stopping a suspected drunk driver on Saint Mary's Parkway and scooping up a young man who briefly fled from officers in Saint Mary's Gardens.

In the latter incident, police attempted to stop a car at about 2:48 a.m. Saturday when the driver sped away from them, touching off a short chase that ended in the 1500 block of Del Monte Court.

Chief Robert Priebe said the driver abandoned his car at that location and managed to elude officers. A search of the car turned up numerous hypodermic needles and a call to the registered owner determined that the car was in use by the owner's grandson -- and that the grandson had called and told the owner that he had been carjacked in Moraga earlier in the evening.

A meeting with the grandson/owner of the car was arranged and during their talk with Nicholas S. Fazio, 23, of Oakland, officers determined that Fazio was on probation for drug possession. He was searched and the keys to the "carjacked" vehicle were found in his possession, Priebe said.

Fazio was taken into custody for the probation violation, filing a false police report, obstructing officers, and possession of hypodermic needles. His grandmother's car was towed.