Driver Is Arrested After Fleeing Freeway on Foot

A man seen driving recklessly from the Riverside Freeway to the Costa Mesa Freeway Thursday morning stopped his car and ran into a neighborhood where officers later arrested him on suspicion of felony evasion.

The California Highway Patrol received several phone calls at about 8:30 a.m. reporting that a red Camaro was speeding and weaving through westbound lanes on the Riverside Freeway, said Officer Angel Johnson, a spokeswoman for the CHP.

The car stopped on the shoulder of southbound Costa Mesa Freeway, just south of the transition between the two highways, and an officer found a man crouched next to the driver’s door.

Leo Nick Shady, 29, of Orange was asked to surrender but ran across southbound traffic, which had stopped to watch the confrontation, Johnson said.

Shady then jumped the center divider and ran through northbound traffic, which was going about 70 miles per hour. He was able to avoid being struck by several cars, Johnson said.

The CHP officer chased the suspect onto Santiago Boulevard and into a housing development east of the freeway. Other officers found him about half an hour later carrying a brick and walking on Black Oak Road, east of Maple Tree Drive, the spokeswoman said.

Shady was arrested on suspicion of evasion and resisting arrest, Johnson said. Officers did not have an explanation for his behavior Thursday. Shady had no warrants and it was not immediately known whether he was on medication.