Local News in Brief : 2 Hurt in Traffic Pursuit

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was injured and a bystander was struck by a shotgun pellet during the pursuit of an elderly couple through East Los Angeles in heavy traffic early Thursday, authorities said.

Frank Zappa Costa, 76, and his wife, Doris, 65, were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after the chase that began at Washington and Atlantic boulevards, Deputy Vam Mosley said. The chase ended a mile away when the couple’s van was boxed in by traffic and a deputy blew out one of the tires with a shotgun after, “they tried to ram a radio car, then aimed for a deputy,” Mosley said.

Antonio Flores, 61, who was standing nearby, was hit in the chest by a ricocheting shotgun pellet and was released after an examination at White Memorial Medical Center. A deputy, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in stable condition with a concussion after he lost control of his patrol car and crashed into a parked truck.