Crash Ends Wrong-Way Freeway Chase : Crime: Several vehicles are damaged but no one is hurt. Three suspects are arrested; one escapes and is being sought by police.
Four suspects led police on a chase down the wrong side of the Santa Ana Freeway on Sunday, resulting in damage to several cars but no injuries, officials said.
The incident began about 2 a.m. when officers received a report of a disturbance involving a man possibly armed with a gun at the El Paraiso bar, Lt. Vince Howard said.
Upon arriving at the bar on South Brookhurst Street, officers saw four men fleeing in a car. During the pursuit, the men “blacked out their car” by turning off the headlights and taillights, and at one point swerved in an apparent effort to ram a police vehicle, Howard said.
“They almost ran into one officer’s unit,” Howard said.
The foursome entered the Santa Ana Freeway at Euclid Street and sped to Beach Boulevard, where they exited the freeway and then re-entered in the wrong direction, traveling south in the northbound lanes at about 50 m.p.h., Howard added.
Aided by helicopters, Buena Park and Fullerton police also joined the pursuit. The California Highway Patrol halted all northbound freeway traffic at Orangethorpe Avenue, police said.
“When the suspects approached the stopped vehicles on the freeway, they tried to squeeze between them, sideswiping some of them,” Howard said.
The chase ended when the car crashed into a freeway sign near Orangethorpe. The suspects were apprehended after they attempted to flee on foot, Howard said.
Police identified the driver as Isabel G. Zamora, 21, of Santa Ana. He was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and various vehicle code violations. Howard said he did not have the names or the charges leveled against the two other suspects also arrested at the scene.
A fourth suspect escaped and is being sought by police.
Chase Route
1. Start: Four suspects flee police from bar at 420 S. Brookhurst St.
2. Suspects enter Santa Ana Freeway at Euclid St. and head north
3. Car U-turns at Beach Blvd. and heads south in the northbound lane of the Santa Ana Freeway
4. End: Suspects crash near Orangethorpe exit
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