Traveling 80 M.P.H., Police Say : Driver Dies in Crash as He Flees Police

A 22-year-old Arleta man who led police on a high-speed chase was killed early Thursday and two people were injured when his car collided with a pickup truck in Sun Valley, authorities said.

The driver, Michael Cipriano Owens, was traveling about 80 m.p.h. and going through his third red light on Strathern Street when he collided with the pickup truck at Lankershim Boulevard shortly after midnight, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Mel Cunningham said. Owens was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the truck, Noel Victor Seon, 35, was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills with a concussion and a fractured rib. A passenger in Owens’ car suffered a broken leg and thumb.

The chase began soon after Los Angeles police auto-theft detectives Michael Coffey and Pete Frost were dispatched to investigate a report that some men were breaking into a truck in the 7500 block of Cleon Avenue in Sun Valley, Lt. Jim Whitley said.

When they arrived in their unmarked car, the detectives noticed a 1976 yellow Datsun, driven by Owens, and began following it because “it is a popular car to steal,” Whitley said. It was later found that Owens owned the vehicle.

The detectives began their chase, with lights and sirens on, when the Datsun turned onto Strathern Street and began speeding westbound, Whitley said. Another police car joined the chase, catching up to the car shortly after it veered into the pickup truck, rolled over and burst into flames.

Police said Owens was driving with a suspended license and was on probation for drunk driving.

It is the second high-speed police chase in three months to result in a fatality in Sun Valley. An April incident led to the death of a motorist whose car was struck by a motorcycle that was fleeing police. In that case, Robert Wade Still, 18, of North Hollywood was charged with vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to two years in California Youth Authority custody.