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Solano jury gets Vacaville high-speed chase case
FAIRFIELD — Jurors are set to begin deliberations Friday in the trial of a Sacramento man accused of taking his fiancee’s car and leading Vacaville police on a high-speed chase that ended with the car upside down and sunk in an irrigation canal.
Dereck L. Gi, 45, did not take the witness stand during the weeklong trial. His former fiancee testified, saying Gi repeatedly threatened to beat her as they drove from the Bay Area toward Sacramento on Interstate 80 on the night of Dec. 21, 2012.
“I’m going to make it so your daughter can’t recognize your face,” she said Gi told her at one point in their drive, hitting her a few times as they drove.
Gi’s defense attorney told jurors that the former fiancee is lying and vengeful.
When the couple stopped at a Vacaville convenience store around 3 a.m., the fiancee locked herself in the bathroom until Vacaville police arrived a short time later. One Vacaville police officer talked her out of the bathroom while his partner took off after Gi, who was spotted driving off in the fiancee’s Toyota as the police arrived.
The Vacaville officer followed Gi onto Interstate 80 and then onto Weber Road where Gi wrecked, the car careening into a canal. Police pulled Gi out of the submerged car and arrested him.
Gi’s attorney repeated to jurors the same explanation his client gave police at the crash scene for why he had not stopped for the flashing lights and siren of the patrol car behind him: He had not noticed them.
Gi faces a felony assault charge along with charges of auto theft, evading police and making criminal threats.
Reach Jess Sullivan at 427-6919 or jsullivan@dailyrepublic.net. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jsullivandr.
Jess Sullivan
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