Wild Freeway Chase, Gunfight Ends in Arrest

A man suspected of beating a taxicab driver and stealing his cab was wounded in a gun battle with police Friday morning after shooting at law enforcement authorities during a harrowing chase on the crowded San Diego Freeway, police said.

The chase ended when the suspect sped over a center divider on a congested Laguna Hills intersection, blowing out two tires, and then fled into a deep ravine, where he hid behind a clump of trees and continued to shoot at officers.

Miraculously, law enforcement officials said, no one except the suspect was injured during the 25-mile chase or the subsequent 10:30 a.m. shoot-out in the ravine at Moulton Parkway and Laguna Hills Drive.

“Luck was definitely on our side,” Irvine Police Lt. Vic Thies said. “This guy fired so indiscriminately, it was extremely fortunate that no one else was hit.”

Irvine police identified the suspect as Ronald K. Trotter, 29, of Stanton. A single shotgun blast, fired by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy, hit Trotter, said Irvine Lt. Mike White.

Trotter was listed in critical condition at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center after undergoing surgery Friday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Gasho said.

Also injured was the taxicab driver, who fought with Trotter and tried to wrest the gun from him before the cab was stolen.

“I was frightened that he would kill me and I was mad,” said the cabdriver, Valery Yakubov. “I held the (suspect’s) gun with one hand and hit him with the other. I hit him and he hit me. I hit him in his face over and over. . . . There was blood everywhere.”

The gun fired once during the struggle, but Yakubov was not hit. He said the suspect then pointed the gun at him and possibly pulled the trigger again, but the gun jammed. Yakubov then escaped.

Police described Trotter as a muscular man who wore a black hat, jacket and pants.

This was the fifth officer-involved shooting in Orange County this year. A sixth shooting involving Orange County officers occurred in Los Angeles County last month when a Fullerton narcotics officer and a drug suspect were killed in a shoot-out during an undercover operation in Downey.

The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating Friday’s shooting because it involved law enforcement authorities.

Friday’s shooting ended a half-hour car chase at speeds of up to 75 m.p.h. that took the suspect, Irvine police, California Highway Patrol, Orange County sheriff’s deputies and an Anaheim police helicopter on a journey from Irvine to the South County community near the Laguna Hills Mall.

The incident began shortly before 10 a.m., when Yakubov, 29, of Anaheim, was called to pick up a customer at John Wayne Airport, said Coast Yellow Cab Cooperative operations manager Thom Pelk.

After picking up his fare, Pelk said, Yakubov drove the man to at least two and possibly three locations, Pelk said.

“We don’t know what those addresses are, but after two or three times of doing this, he (the suspect) pulled a gun on the cabbie,” Pelk said.

At the intersection of Morse and Von Karmann avenues, the two got into a scuffle. The suspect then pulled out a .45-caliber automatic handgun and pointed it at Yakubov’s head, Pelk said.

Yakubov did not radio for help.

“I imagine he was in a rather precarious position with a gun pointed at him,” Pelk said.

During the fight, the cabdriver grabbed for the gun, which fired. The bullet missed Yakubov, but he sustained gunpowder burns to his arm. Yakubov, a Ukrainian immigrant who has worked for the cab company for two months, was taken to Healthcare Medical Center of Tustin, where he was admitted overnight for a broken rib and facial cuts suffered in the scuffle.

After leaving Yakubov on the street, Trotter then headed for the congested San Diego Freeway, police said.

Minutes later, Irvine police officers spotted the taxi traveling southbound on the freeway near Irvine Center Drive, Thies said. Two Irvine police squad cars followed the suspect as he sped southbound, whipping past slower cars on the congested freeway. Within minutes, California Highway Patrol cars joined the chase.

When the pursuit reached El Toro Road, the suspect began firing his gun out the driver’s window, missing police and other drivers, Thies said.

Lyle Edwards, 52, of Mission Viejo was on the freeway when he spotted the lights of at least four squad cars flashing in his rear-view mirror.

Then he noticed a yellow taxicab “whip by on the left. He wasn’t more than two cars in front of me,” Edwards said.

“I said, ‘My gosh, they (police) are chasing this guy,’ ” Edwards said. At that point, Edwards was startled by what sounded like an explosion.

“I saw his rear window shatter and explode,” Edwards said. “I couldn’t believe it. Nobody could. It happened so quickly and everybody (drivers) just tried to get out of the way.”

The suspect finally got off the freeway at Avery Parkway and led the growing number of pursuing squad cars through several Laguna Hills neighborhoods. Meanwhile, an Anaheim police helicopter had been called in to keep an eye on the suspect from the sky.

James Jones, 28, of Anaheim, said he was waiting for the light to change at the intersection of Moulton Parkway and Laguna Hills Drive when he saw the taxicab careening down the street toward him at about 60 m.p.h.

“He was coming right at me,” said Jones.

As the cab reached the intersection, it sped over the center divider in an attempt to make a left turn on Laguna Hills Drive. While airborne, the rear tires exploded.

The suspect skidded to a stop, jumped out and fled into a deep ravine covered with high brush and trees.

“The taxi was still rolling,” Jones said.

As the Anaheim police helicopter circled the area, an officer using a loudspeaker warned the suspect to throw down his weapon. More than a dozen squad cars from Irvine and the Sheriff’s Department converged and blocked off the intersection.

“Cops were piling out of their cars with lots of weapons,” said witness Debbi Barton, who was also in her car at the intersection.

Moments later, as police closed in, the suspect reportedly began firing again from behind a clump of trees.

At least one sheriff’s deputy returned the fire, but “none of our officers fired,” Irvine’s Lt. White said.

Staff writers Davan Maharaj and Wendy Paulson contributed to this story.