Tustin : Police Arrest 2 After VCR-Punctuated Chase

Police arrested two robbery suspects and recovered some allegedly stolen videocassette recorders early Wednesday, but the property came to them in an unusual way--the suspects threw the recorders into the path of a pursuing patrol car, authorities said.

Police responded to an alarm call at 2:30 a.m. at a Radio Shack store in the 13000 block of Newport Avenue, where they found the store’s front glass door and window had been smashed, Officer Terry Richardson said. Nearby, she said, sheriff’s deputies reported seeing a suspicious vehicle.

Officers were chasing the vehicle, a red truck, when they were forced to dodge four VCRs tossed from the back of the truck on 17th Street in Santa Ana, west of Tustin Avenue, Richardson said.

The pursuit ended with police arresting Frederick Lopez, 18, and Edward Ojodo, 28, both of Palm Springs, on suspicion of robbery. The truck was impounded. Police were searching for a third suspect, Richardson said.