CHP takes pair into custody after chase

What started as a traffic stop Tuesday afternoon turned into a high-speed chase for the California Highway Patrol as a 29-year-old Glendale man eluded authorities before slamming into two parked cars in separate incidents in La Crescenta, agency officials said Wednesday.

CHP arrested the driver on suspicion of failing to yield to an officer in a reckless manner. He was booked into the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

A passenger, identified as a woman in her 30s from Los Angeles, was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was taken to the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station jail, said CHP spokesperson Officer Ryan Bejar.

Their names have not been released, Bejar said.

Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, a CHP Southern Division captain, whose name was not released as of Wednesday afternoon, was driving his unmarked vehicle westbound on the Foothill (210) Freeway. That’s when he noticed a sedan-type vehicle closing in from behind.

“He passed the captain at over 80 mph,” Bejar said, noting the captain turned on his vehicle lights with the intention of stopping the driver for travelling at an unsafe speed.

The CHP captain followed the driver, who took the Osborne Street exit, then traveled onto Foothill Boulevard and back onto the freeway.

From there, the driver fled into La Crescenta, where his vehicle hit a white Chevy Prism parked on Pennsylvania Avenue. The pursuit picked up again, resulting in the sedan slamming into a second parked vehicle at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and New York Avenue.

In between the collisions, Bejar said the driver and passenger exited the sedan and fled on foot before returning to the vehicle and continuing the chase.

No one was hurt in the collisions.

Officers arrested the driver and female passenger at the intersection of Mary Ann Street and New York Avenue, roughly a block from Glendale Fire Department Station No. 28.

The Los Angeles Police Department will assist in reviewing one of the collisions that occurred within the city’s limit as the investigation remains ongoing.

As of now, the CHP is unsure about why the driver was speeding before the chase began.

He’s slated to be arraigned today, Bejar said.