DANGEROUS AT HIGH SPEED: A 1988 CHRONOLOGY

Selected incidents from Orange County police files.

Jan. 6--A suspect in a car theft leads police on a chase from Westminster to Long Beach and back again. Chase ends when the allegedly stolen van plows into a brick wall, but the suspect is not injured.

Jan. 16--A suspected robber forces a driver stopped at a red light out of his car and steals the vehicle, leading Newport Beach police on a chase that ends when he crashes into a utility pole. He suffers a broken leg and other injuries, but survives.

Jan. 26--Two suspects driving a van that had been reported stolen lose control of the vehicle, which flipped over twice on the transition road from the northbound Santa Ana Freeway to the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway. The suspects suffer minor injuries.

Feb. 12--Two robbers, who had a 5-day-old child in the car, hold up a Fountain Valley convenience store and lead police on a chase. They eventually broadside another car at MacArthur Boulevard and Fairview Street. The robbers and woman in the other car suffer minor injuries, and the baby is unhurt.

Feb. 26--A motorist whom Garden Grove police had stopped for a traffic violation speeds away, leading police on a chase. The car plows into another one without braking, killing the motorist and the two occupants in the other car.

March 23--Officers spot a 1973 Datsun 240-Z speeding south on the San Diego Freeway in south Los Angeles County and give chase when the driver fails to stop. Pursuit ends 30 miles later at the Laguna Freeway when the driver loses control of the car and flips it over. The driver and his passenger escape injury.

July 26--A suspected drug dealer leads police on a chase through Huntington Beach and collides with a pickup truck before being shot by officers and crashing into a concrete wall. Suspect sustains serious gunshot wounds but survives.

July 30--A speeding motorcyclist is chased by police and crashes on the southbound San Diego Freeway on-ramp in Seal Beach. He escapes serious injury.

Aug. 14--A man riding a stolen motorcycle is chased by Anaheim police and crashes in a shopping center parking lot. He suffers only minor injuries.

Sept. 1--A driver who is being issued a routine traffic citation leads police on a high-speed chase when officers discover that he is an armed-robbery suspect. The driver loses control of the car, which turns out to be stolen, goes over an embankment and lands in a drainage ditch at the intersection of the Garden Grove and San Diego freeways. The driver and his passenger are not injured but the driver is shot and wounded when he attempts to run from the arresting officers and reportedly reaches into his waistband as if trying to get a gun.

Sept. 25--A Tustin police officer in pursuit of a burglary suspect collides with another car at the intersection of Irvine Boulevard and Yorba Street. The officer receives minor injuries and the driver of the other car is unhurt.

Oct. 3--A car carrying suspected illegal aliens is chased north on Interstate 5 by Border Patrol agents. The car, traveling an estimated 100 m.p.h., plows into a van stopped on the shoulder of the freeway in San Clemente, killing two passengers in the car and injuring two others.

Nov. 8--An unemployed shipping clerk suspected of driving a stolen Mercedes leads police on a 52-mile chase through the county. During the pursuit, the suspect hits a car on the freeway, which police call a deliberate attempt to throw them off the track. Neither driver is injured, but the suspect abandons the car in Santa Ana and is soon captured.

Dec. 3--One teen-ager dies and another is injured in Garden Grove when the stolen Toyota hatchback they are riding in crashes through a guardrail on the Garden Grove Freeway after a chase by police. The out-of-control car then hits the pursuing police car, slightly injuring the officers.

Dec. 22--Two young men suspected of stealing a car are killed after a short chase when their stolen car hits a bridge abutment on Brea Canyon Road. The impact shears the car in half.

Dec. 25--Two women are killed when a Westminster police officer responding to a call broadsides their car at the intersection of Newland Street and Westminster Avenue.