A 41-year-old Modesto man was arrested the day after he allegedly tried to cause a Ceres Police motorcycle sergeant to crash after he left the funeral of an Elk Grove police officer.

The incident between Ceres Police Sgt. Travis Hudson and Steven Lozano, 41, of Modesto occurred at 4:34 p.m. on Feb. 1. Hudson was riding his department motorcycle back to his residence from the Roseville funeral of Elk Grove Police Officer Ty Lenehan.

Sergeant Hudson was riding at approximately 55 mph on River Road at Murphy Road, northeast of Ripon, behind a blue Nissan Versa driven by Lozano. According to Ceres Police, Lozano applied his brakes abruptly for no apparent reason, locking up his tires and causing the rear end of the Nissan to fishtail. Sgt. Hudson had brake hard to avoid a collision. Lozano then accelerated. Hudson followed the Nissan when, once again, Lozano locked up his tires at approximately 30 mph. Sgt. Hudson was able to slow to avoid a collision, then moved his vehicle to the right side of the road. Lozano then sped up and moved directly in front of Sgt. Hudson and applied his brakes a third time.

“It was becoming obvious the driver was attempting to do this on purpose to make Sgt. Hudson collide in the back of the Nissan,” said Ceres Police Department spokesman Sgt. Keith Griebel.

Seeing that there was oncoming traffic, Sgt. Hudson tried to go around the Nissan, however Lozano sped up and cut over into Sgt. Hudson’s path, causing the motorcycle to leave the roadway. Sgt. Hudson narrowly missed being struck by the Nissan and activated his overhead emergency lights and siren. Lozano sped off and led Sgt. Hudson on a 20-minute pursuit throughout San Joaquin County. Hudson terminated the pursuit out of fear for the public safety due to the driver’s recklessness.

The next day, the California Highway Patrol was engaged in a pursuit with the same Nissan and driver. Lozano was captured and Sgt. Hudson identified him as the same driver who tried to hit him.

Lozano was found to be out on bail for evading police by vehicle in Calaveras County.

Lozano was booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, evading police without regard for the public and evading police by driving the wrong way on a freeway.