Hitchhiker Accepts Wrong Ride, Ends Up Part of Police Chase

A hitchhiker who unwittingly accepted a ride from a man driving a stolen car had a front-row seat for a 30-minute police chase from Los Angeles to Glendale that reached 80 m.p.h. and at one point was going the wrong way on the Ventura Freeway, authorities said.

During the pursuit, Tommy Lee Jones frantically tried to persuade the car’s driver, Ed Palamara, to let him out, Los Angeles police said. And when the car finally stopped about 3:15 a.m. in a parking lot at the Glendale police station, Jones had to convince police officers that he was a victim, not an accomplice.

Jones, 34, of Los Angeles, was handcuffed and taken into custody with Palamara, but later was released after police believed his story.

“He wasn’t involved,” Sgt. Bob Grant said. “He just hitched a ride in the wrong car. He was trying to get out, but the driver wouldn’t stop. He was . . . screaming the whole time to be released.”

Grant said Palamara, 33, of Los Angeles was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon because at one point during the chase, he allegedly tried to ram the stolen car into two police cars.

The chase started at 2:36 a.m. at 7th and San Pedro streets when officers tried to stop a 1987 Nissan Pulsar after running a computer check on the vehicle and determining that it was stolen earlier east of downtown, police said.

Instead of pulling over, the driver sped away, and the police pursuit went through parts of the Hollywood, Wilshire and Los Feliz areas, officers said. The car then entered the Ventura Freeway, driving briefly on the wrong side. The Pulsar then went off the freeway in Pasadena and headed west toward Glendale.

During the chase, police said, the driver of the Pulsar tried to ram two patrol cars, and one car was damaged when it struck a freeway guardrail. No officers were injured.

The suspects drove into the Glendale police lot in the 100 block of North Isabel Avenue where the two occupants were taken into custody. Palamara was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries he suffered while allegedly resisting arrest, police said. He was being held at Parker Center Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Grant said he did not know where Jones had been picked up.