Car Theft Suspect Fatally Hurt When Pursuing Police Hit Him

A motorist who police said was speeding and running red lights was killed Tuesday in Sylmar when he jumped from his car and was struck by a pursuing patrol car.

Police learned after the incident that the car they were chasing had been stolen.

The name of the dead man had not been determined Tuesday because he was carrying no identification, police said. He was killed at 2:35 a.m. at Glenoaks Boulevard and Polk Street, said Police Detective Anthony Bartolotto. The names of the officers in the car that struck the man were not released.

Police said the accident occurred at the end of a 2 1/2-mile chase. Officers had received a call that a resident near Dronfield Avenue and Sayre Street reported that his silver Hyundai had just been stolen.

The officers drove to the area and were looking for the Hyundai when they saw a brown, 1977 Datsun 280-Z speed through a stop sign, Bartolotto said. The officers followed the car and saw it speed through several other stop signs, he said.

The officers put on their car’s emergency lights and siren and began chasing the Datsun, police said. They also called for a police helicopter as a backup.

Police estimated that the fleeing car reached speeds of 70 m.p.h. and sped ahead of the patrol car because the officers stopped at traffic signals and stop signs to make sure the intersections were clear.

“The police car was not going at extreme speeds--they were following cautiously,” Bartolotto sad.

The Datsun made several turns through side streets and then went north on Glenoaks, police said. The car made a sharp turn at Bledsoe Street, spun out and stalled, police said. As the patrol car caught up, the driver of the Datsun started the car and sped back onto Glenoaks. The car headed south and spun out again while turning right onto Polk.

Bartolotto said the driver apparently could not restart the stalled car and jumped out and ran just as the patrol car rounded the turn at 15 m.p.h. to 20 m.p.h. The detective said the officers came around the turn without a clear view of the street because of a library building and trees planted on the corner. He said they saw the Datsun rolling backward down a slight incline toward them.

“They came around the turn blind and saw the car coming at them,” Bartolotto said. “They swerved to miss it and the suspect ran in front of them.”

The suspect was knocked down by the patrol car and hit a curb. He died at the scene. Investigators learned afterward that the Datsun had been stolen shortly before the chase began.

Inside the car, Bartolotto said, officers found an ignition lock that was traced to the Hyundai that had been reported stolen. That car was found near the place where the chase.

“It appears one car was stolen and then left while the second one was stolen,” Bartolotto said.

An investigation of the incident is continuing, but Bartolotto said the officers acted within the department’s policy for vehicle pursuits.

The pursuit policy calls for officers involved in chases to drive cautiously and call for backup, preferably from a helicopter unit that can pursue more safely. The pursuit is to be stopped if there is an unreasonable risk to the public or the officers, according to the policy.

Bartolotto said that although the officers had called for a helicopter to take up the pursuit, the air patrol did not arrive in the area in time.