Driver of Stolen Car Dies in Crash

The driver of a stolen car died Monday after leading sheriff’s deputies on a high-speed chase that ended when the car careened off the Antelope Valley Freeway and plunged 100 feet into a canyon, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

The driver, whose name was not released until relatives could be notified, was taken by helicopter to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he was pronounced dead, Sgt. John Hall said.

The chase began about 12:15 p.m. in the Quartz Hill section of Lancaster after a sheriff’s employee, who was preparing to ticket the car’s driver for a parking violation, discovered that the car had been reported stolen, Hall said.

The man drove off, and three patrol cars and a helicopter chased the car for 25 minutes until it went over the edge of the freeway near Shadow Pines Road in Canyon Country, Hall said. The driver unsuccessfully attempted to ram the patrol cars during the chase, which reached speeds of up to 90 m.p.h., he said.