Suspect in wild pursuit across San Francisco's Bay Bridge is actually an adorable chihuahua

Punch the Chihuahua leads an officer on a chase against the Bay Bridge.
(Image credit: YouTube.com/Reuters)

A small black chihuahua led San Francisco California Highway Patrol officers on a slow-speed chase Sunday morning on the Bay Bridge.

One officer stopped traffic while the other was literally on the dog's tail as he made his way across the bridge. It took four attempts by officers to catch the dog — now dubbed "Ponch" after Erik Estrada's character on CHiPS — before he was finally apprehended, and while he was wearing a collar, it didn't have a tag. Officers are now looking for his owners, and he will be placed for adoption if they don't come forward within five days.

"We've had dogs on the bridge, all sorts of animals: seals, turtles, you name it," Officer Vu Williams said. "We never had one that took off and took so long to get." Although Ponch failed to pull over and resisted arrest, he won't be charged.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.