HERCULES — A man and woman people suspected of driving away from a store with three cases of shoplifted beer were arrested on suspicion of much more serious crimes, Police said.

One police Officer used a Taser while subduing the 23-year-old man suspected of driving the vehicle, and the 30-year-old woman briefly fought back as an officer arrested her, according to a statement from the Hercules Police Department.

Police said they were suspected of theft, evading police and attempted carjacking. According to police, they were in custody at the Martinez Detention Facility.

It all happened Sunday after officers were dispatched about 5:15 p.m. to a Rite Aid in the 1500 block of Sycamore Avenue. According to police, the reporting party told them that the suspects in the shoplifting were leaving the store’s parking lot in a white Chrysler 200 and on Sycamore Avenue while going toward Turquoise Drive.

When the officer began to follow the car, it U-turned on Sycamore Avenue at Refugio Valley Road and headed to eastbound Highway 4. Police said the officer got the license plate, then tried to pull over the car at Claeys Ranch, the Willow Avenue off-ramp of eastbound Highway 4.

According to police, the Chrysler initially pulled over, then drove the wrong way down the on-ramp, prompting the officer to stop the pursuit. Police said the driver took the Chrysler through the grass in the exit area, then entered eastbound Highway 4 on the west-bound Willow Avenue exit. The driver then U-turned and started going east on the eastbound part of the highway, police said.

The officer continued to follow the Chrysler from a distance with the patrol-car lights turned off,  and watched the Chrysler get onto the dead-ending Christie Road, according to police. Officers then set up a spike strip to stop the Chrysler when it headed back in the other direction, police said.

The spike strip disabled the Chrysler near the entrance to eastbound Highway 4, and police said the man ran up to a white Toyota Camry stuck behind the Chrysler and brandished a large pocketknife with the blade open at the driver. According to police, he used the knife to punch out the driver’s side window and tried to take the vehicle.

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The Toyota’s driver accelerated as he did this, police said, and the car dragged the suspect for about 50 feet before he finally fell. He then tried to run away from the scene, but officers used the Taser to detain him, police said.

The passenger ran down the side of Highway 4 after fleeing the Chrysler and an officer ran her down, police said.

Both of the suspects sustained injuries during the incident and were taken by ambulance to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. They were treated, released and taken to jail, police said.