Burglary Suspect Critically Hurt as Cycle Crashes

A man suspected of burglarizing a home here led police on a chase Wednesday that ended when he crashed his motorcycle into a car, injuring himself and two others, police said.

Gary Thomas, 36, of Lake Elsinore was reported in critical condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana after the 1:07 p.m. crash but is expected to survive.

Jeanine Fucci, 31, of Corona, a passenger in the car Thomas hit, said she saw him barreling toward them.

“We had a green light,” Fucci said, “and were turning left on Glassell (Street) when I saw this guy on a motorcycle with no helmet coming full force. He had this look on his face like, ‘I’m going to make it through the intersection.’

“He hit our car so hard that it turned it around. I saw him flipping (over the car). . . . He hit the street, then bounced, hit and bounce, hit and bounce. . . . It was amazing. I thought he was dead.”

The chase began after a resident in the 14600 block of Moran Street called police to report that a neighbor’s house was being burglarized by a man who drove up on a motorcycle, Westminster Police Officer Robin Kapp said.

Police spotted the motorcycle, but Thomas drove off and officers pursued, Kapp said.

Thomas refused to pull over and continued to drive north through Westminster until he entered the Garden Grove Freeway going east, Kapp said.

At least two patrol cars and a police helicopter from Costa Mesa followed the motorcycle onto the freeway, said Kapp, who declined to say how fast the suspect was speeding.

The police cars apparently fell behind on the freeway, California Highway Patrol officials said, but the helicopter followed the motorcyclist as he drove off the freeway in Orange.

He reportedly ran red lights before colliding with the Acura Integra in which Fucci was a passenger and which was turning left from the Glassell Street off-ramp at the Garden Grove Freeway.

The pursuing police cars were about half a mile away when they crashed, police said.

But moments later, Fucci said, “there were cops everywhere. From Orange, Santa Ana, Westminster and the Highway Patrol. The cops said (Thomas) was going about 95 to 100 m.p.h. They said it was impossible to keep up with him because he was running a lot of red lights.”

Fucci, who is three months’ pregnant, and the driver of the Acura, Judith Farkas, 46, of Orange, were taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange with complaints of pain. They were treated and released.

Santa Ana police, who are investigating, said Thomas sustained critical injuries but is expected to live.