Family of 4, 2 Officers Hurt in High-Speed Car Chase on Freeway

A 3-year-old Compton girl and her 7-year-old sister were recovering from serious injuries Thursday after the car they were riding in on the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles was sideswiped by a stolen sports car and then rear-ended by a police car during a high-speed chase, authorities said.

The girls’ parents and two Los Angeles police officers were also injured in the Wednesday evening accident, Officer Mallie Donohoe said.

Paola Joval, 3, was in stable condition at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. A police investigator said she had a brain hemorrhage. Her sister, Evelyn, was in stable condition at the hospital with a fractured pelvis.

The parents, identified as Jose and Maria Joval, and the two officers were treated at various hospitals for minor injuries and released.

Witnesses told police that two car theft suspects were in the sports car when it fled from police at speeds of up to 90 m.p.h. and sideswiped the Joval’s car, causing it to hit the center divider and rebound into light freeway traffic near Vernon Avenue.

Almost immediately after that, the car was rear-ended by the pursuing squad car.

Other police captured the suspects after the sports car left the freeway, jumped a curb and crashed into a building. The driver, Porfiro Mesa, 23, was held without bail on suspicion of attempted murder of the Joval family. His passenger, Angel Escalante, 23, of San Diego was booked on suspicion of grand theft auto and held in lieu of $2,500 bail.