Driver arrested after wild police chase involving several vehicles

A man suspected of leading authorities on a wild chase involving multiple vehicles, one of which he used to repeatedly ram a Fullerton police cruiser that was being used in an unsuccessful attempt to pin him in place, was arrested in Hacienda Heights Wednesday evening.

According to Fullerton police, the suspect fled from an attempted traffic stop about 4:40 p.m. at Auto Center Drive and the Santa Ana (5) Freeway.

The chase suspect was originally in a dark-colored sedan, but at one point stopped and jumped out of the car and tried to steal a parked pickup truck in Anaheim. When he was unable to break into the vehicle, he jumped back into the sedan, eventually parking and running into a townhome complex.

The suspect then hopped into a parked white van, but a Fullerton police officer parked a cruiser directly behind the vehicle, pinning it in a parking space. Undaunted, the suspect repeatedly rammed the cruiser until he was able to slip by the police vehicle and sped away.

Eventually the suspect reached Whittier, where the van lost one of its rear tires and became disabled. The suspect continued trying to escape, spinning the stripped rear wheel, which sent sparks flying and eventually sparked a fire under the van.

With police stationed behind the vehicle, the suspect crawled out of the passenger side and fled on foot, running into a residential neighborhood where he walked into a home and got into a confrontation with the residents inside. The confrontation spilled onto the front driveway, where the suspect jumped into a parked white pickup truck and drove off, nearly striking some of the residents as he fled.

The suspect struck multiple vehicles during the chase, appearing desperate to avoid capture as he drove on the wrong side of various streets. At one point, the front driver’s side tire on the truck became deflated and fell off the vehicle.

The suspect crashed into several more vehicles before the truck became disabled at a gas station. The suspect attempted to flee as deputies attempted to box him into the gas station, prompting the deputies to open fire on the truck as it rammed into their vehicles.

A small fire erupted beneath the truck as the man continued to attempt to flee, though deputies managed to extinguish the flames from behind a ballistic shield.

Deputies approached the vehicle and took the suspect into custody about 6:15 p.m. He was walked to a squad car and placed inside before paramedics placed him into an ambulance about 6:30 p.m. and took him to a hospital for treatment of unknown injuries.

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