A Burglary Suspect’s Escape Runs Out of Gas

A suspect in a liquor store burglary in Huntington Beach led police on a high-speed freeway chase early Tuesday that ended 75 miles away when the stolen Cadillac he was driving ran out of gas, authorities said.

Stanley Martin Brown, 23, of Kansas City, Mo., was arrested on the Foothill Freeway near Azusa on suspicion of commercial burglary, auto theft, assault on a police officer and assault with a deadly weapon, Huntington Beach Police Lt. Jack Reinholtz said.

Brown was treated for minor cuts suffered in a scuffle with police after “jumping out of his car and slugging an officer in the eye,” Reinholtz said. The officer did not require medical treatment, he said.

The chase, which reached speeds of 100 m.p.h., began shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday, when police answering a silent alarm at Seagate Liquor in the 16100 block of Bolsa Chica Street saw a red Cadillac El Dorado racing away, Reinholtz said.

The Cadillac sped north to the Garden Grove Freeway, east to the Costa Mesa Freeway, north to the Riverside Freeway, east to the Corona Freeway, north to the Foothill Freeway, then west to Azusa, where the car ran out of gas, police said.

During the pursuit, the suspect threw bottles of liquor out of the car, police said.

Inside the car, police said they found a case of Bombay gin, canned goods and other food. They said Brown entered the store by smashing the front window, then “ransacked” it.

The Cadillac was found to have been stolen from a Goodyear tire store two blocks from the liquor store a short time before the burglary, police said.

The suspect was being held Tuesday at the Orange County Jail, police said.