MANTECA, CA - A Manteca woman wonders how her husband, who suffered from dementia, bought a new truck and led cops on a high speed chase.Janet Davis said her husband Donald, who suffered from dementia, managed to escape from a Manteca care home in a wheelchair, buy a new truck and lead authorities on a high speed chase on Thursday.
"That hurts me so much to know that he was all by himself and lost in his last hours," said Janet. "My heart just went out to my husband because I can just picture him so confused and trying to get home."
According to Manteca police Sgt. Ralph Colin, Donald Davis was reported missing from the Manteca Care and Rehabilitation Center last Thursday morning. A search ensued for the 67-year-old man who suffered from dementia and had disappeared wearing pajamas and slippers in his wheelchair.
Janet said she found a number for the Cabral Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership on her husband's bedside. She said she called the dealership and workers said they hadn't seen Donald. But during a later call, apparently workers admitted Donald had been in and had purchased a new pickup truck.
That evening Manteca police learned Donald had been stopped by the California Highway Patrol following a high speed chase in Pleasanton, nearly 50 miles from Manteca.
When Donald finally brought the truck to a stop, officers noticed he was confused and disoriented. They took him to a hospital where he died of heart failure Thursday evening.
"The pursuit started because the patient had been driving at a unsafe speed which caught the highway patrol's attention," Colin said. "It was a short pursuit where speeds reached upwards of 103 miles per hour."
According to Colin, Davis was driven to the car dealership from the care home by a Cabral employee. Janet said she talked to the worker who claimed she had called one of the dealership's owners twice saying she was concerned about picking up Davis who apparently fell as she tried to get him into a car to transport him.
"I couldn't believe it. How could something like this happen," Janet said. "He didn't have a wallet or driver's license. They threw his wheelchair in the back of the truck and gave him the keys."
Apparently Donald's new truck was also outfitted with some chrome wheels he asked for. Janet said her husband had driven 300 miles before cops caught up with him. When she had heard the news, her daughter and grandson jumped in a car with her and were on their way to the hospital. But her husband died before they reached him.
She says out over the years, she and her family have purchased 15 vehicles from Cabral. She said workers were aware of her husband's medical problems because they recently returned two vehicles to get money to pay for his medical bills.
"There were so many things that should have been red flags to these people. I don't see how they could say they he seemed perfectly normal," she said.
Cabral General Sales Manager Bob Bronken told News10, "we decline to make a comment at this time."
Phone calls to the Manteca care center went unanswered.
Meanwhile, Manteca police are investigating the incident and the Davis family is planning Donald's funeral.
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