LAKEPORT, Calif. – Police officers arrested a Lakeport man early Saturday morning following a high speed motorcycle chase through the city.

Michael William Lockett, 51, was taken into custody on a felony charge of evading a peace officer with disregard for public safety and a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence, according to a report from Sgt. Michael Sobieraj of the Lakeport Police Department.

Just after 1:30 a.m. Saturday Sgt. Gary Basor attempted to stop Lockett, who Sobieraj said was traveling north on North Main Street at a high rate of speed after leaving the Clearlake Club bar on his Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Basor was behind the motorcycle with his emergency lights activated when Lockett turned on North High Street and then onto 20th Street, accelerating and continuing onto Hartley Street, Sobieraj said.

Sobieraj said Lockett continued west on Boggs Lane, traveling at speeds of more than 50 miles per hour in the residential area and failing to stop at stop signs along the way.

Two additional Lakeport Police officers joined the pursuit when the motorcycle came down 20th Street and turned south onto Hartley Street, Sobieraj said.

One officer attempted to stop the motorcycle by blocking its path on Hartley Street, but Sobieraj said Lockett failed to stop and continued past the officer.

Sobieraj said the motorcycle then traveled west on Clearlake Avenue and failed to negotiate the 90-degree turn at Pool Street, crashing over the embankment. 

The officers went down the embankment, where they saw the wrecked motorcycle. Lockett fled on foot through the thick brush toward Mellor Drive, but officers caught up with him and detained him, Sobieraj said.

Medical staff from Lakeport Fire Protection District were summoned and later transported Lockett to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for medical clearance, according to Sobieraj.

During the investigation, Lockett admitted to having been drinking at the Clearlake Club and also to being under the influence of opioid painkillers, Sobieraj said.

Lockett – who works for the Lake County Community Development Department as its chief building official – was arrested and subsequently booked at the Lake County Jail, with bail set at $35,000, according to his booking sheet.

Jail records indicated he later posted the required portion of bail and was released.