A 34 year old Columbia man was jailed Saturday, after spending several hours at the bottom of a 12
hundred foot canyon with Tuolumne County deputies.
Officers say Steven Wayne Bates was caught speeding on his motorcycle through Columbia just
after 2 am. He dumped his bike while trying to evade the deputy, according to Highway Patrol officers. After sliding down an embankment about 3 and a half
miles from Columbia along Italian Bar Road, Bates was taken into.
It took CDF and Search and Rescue crews until daylight to get him and the
deputies up the steep grade to the road.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 5:41 pm