3 men in custody after chase ends in crash in Costa Mesa

A police pursuit ended in Costa Mesa with three men in custody after a car crashed into a tanker truck carrying thousands of gallons of jet fuel late Thursday.

The chase began in the 1500 block of Ross Street in Santa Ana when officers tried to pull over a driver suspected of a traffic violation, police said.

The car fled and got on the southbound 55 Freeway and then the southbound 73 Freeway.

The car, which reached speeds up to 70 mph on surface streets, wound through Newport Beach and Costa Mesa before crashing into the cab of a tanker truck at the intersection of Paularino Avenue and Bristol Street, according to footage from the scene.

The truck was making a left turn at the intersection when the crash occurred at about 11:40 p.m. The truck driver was not injured, authorities said.

After the crash, one of the car’s three occupants ran from the vehicle and approached two other cars stopped at a red light. He appeared to pull on their driver’s-side door handles, but the doors did not open, according to video footage.

Fernando Sandoval, 21, Jonathan Angel Quintero, 18, and Alexander Angel Garcia, 18, all of Santa Ana, were arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run with property damage, attempted carjacking, evading, obstructing a police officer and criminal street gang activity.

Police described the men as Santa Ana gang members.

Garcia was admitted to a hospital with injuries he suffered in the crash.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN

UPDATES:

1:30 p.m.: This article was updated with the suspects’ identities and additional details.

This article was originally published at 9:05 a.m.