San Clemente : Police Chase Down Bus; 2 Teen-agers Arrested
Three youths driving what turned out to be a stolen commuter bus led police on a high-speed chase up Coast Highway early Sunday before they abandoned the vehicle at a Laguna Beach hotel and fled on foot.
San Clemente police arrested two teen-agers almost immediately near the Surf & Sand Hotel, but a third remained at large Sunday.
Police tried to flag down the large silver bus shortly after 1:30 a.m. when it hit a street sign and a parking meter at the intersection of Avenida Estacion and Calle Deshecha in San Clemente, dispatcher Janet Wingert said.
A nine-minute pursuit up a winding stretch of Coast Highway ensued, with San Clemente officers joined by three units from the Laguna Beach Police Department and a Huntington Beach police helicopter. Police later learned that the bus had been reported stolen from Mission Viejo, Wingert said.
The two youths, aged 14 and 17, were booked into the San Clemente City Jail on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, hit-and-run property damage and failure to obey a police officer.
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