La Palma : Driver Flees Following High-Speed Pursuit

In a chase that involved high speeds on two freeways, police pursued and then lost a man who failed to stop after being ordered to pull over because his car had no license plates.

The incident began at 3:51 a.m. Monday when La Palma Officer Jim Thomas tried to stop the driver, police Sgt. Jim Welles said.

The man refused to stop and then drove the 1987 maroon Chrysler New Yorker north on Moody Street, cut east on Orangethorpe Avenue and sped west onto the Riverside Freeway. At the Santa Ana Freeway, he turned south and drove at speeds of up to 100 m.p.h. before crashing into a guardrail trying to exit at Euclid Street. Then, he fled on foot.

Police from La Palma, Anaheim, Buena Park, Brea and Garden Grove, including dog patrols, failed to find the man and finally called off the search.

Welles said he did not know how long the foot search lasted but said that since the chase itself had lasted just 1 1/2 to two minutes, officials didn’t have time to set up a workable cordon around the area.