No bail for driver arrested after accident in Stella’s Sandtrap

Manuel Gonzalez appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Manuel Alberto Gonzalez has fled from police in the past.

Gonzalez, who is accused of leading police on a chase early Sunday that ended in a car crash at an east Bakersfield bar, has been convicted twice of recklessly fleeing a police officer.

Given his criminal history, Court Commissioner Sally Ackerknecht ordered him held without bail on Tuesday. An assistant public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf to charges of drunken driving causing personal injury, two counts of fleeing a police officer causing personal injury and reckless eluding a police officer, as well as other misdemeanors including driving without a license.

Gonzalez, 22, is due back in court on June 28.

At around 12:10 a.m., police attempted to stop Gonzalez as he drove near Mount Vernon Avenue and Niles Street.

He refused to stop, police said, and during the ensuing chase, his car struck a vehicle heading north on Oswell Street and then crashed into two more vehicles in the parking lot of Stella’s Sandtrap on Niles Street — sending a third vehicle through the wall of the eatery.

Three guests were hit. Two suffered minor injuries, police said, and the third was taken to hospital in pain.