Trucker Leads CHP on 150-Mile, 4-County Chase
A Colorado trucker, sought for allegedly speeding on a desert interstate, led officers on a 150-mile freeway chase through four Southern California counties before the big-rig was finally stopped, authorities said.
Dozens of California Highway Patrol cars and a police helicopter participated in Sunday afternoon’s two-hour, 85-m.p.h. chase before trucker John Stirewalt, 23, of Colorado Springs, was arrested on Interstate 5 in the Newhall area.
Dispatcher Mike Mikita of the CHP’s Indio office said Stirewalt was booked by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies for investigation of reckless driving and evading arrest.
Shortly after noon Sunday, CHP officers tried to stop Stirewalt’s tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 10 near Banning, about 85 miles east of Los Angeles, for allegedly speeding and driving in the wrong lane, Mikita said.
Stirewalt careened down the freeway in Riverside County at speeds of up to 85 m.p.h., then continued south on Interstate 15 through San Bernardino County, onto the Artesia Freeway into Orange County and then swung north on Interstate 5 into Los Angeles County, Mikita said.
The chase came to an end at about 2 p.m. north of Newhall.
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