SAN GABRIEL VALLEY : 2 Bank Robbery Suspects Seized in High-Speed Chase

A suspected bank robber was wounded and his female companion arrested Thursday after a high-speed chase on three San Gabriel Valley freeways ended in a crash in El Monte, authorities said.

The robbery occurred at 11:50 a.m. at a Bank of America office on Amar Road in West Covina, when a man handed a teller a note and fled with an undisclosed sum to a car, West Covina Police Cmdr. John Distelrath said.

West Covina officers spotted the car westbound on the San Bernardino Freeway and gave chase at speeds up to 70 m.p.h., south on the San Gabriel Valley River Freeway and then west on the Pomona Freeway, police said.

After the car exited at Rosemead Boulevard it collided with another vehicle at Rush Street. A woman passenger in the suspects’ car was arrested. The man fled to a park, clutching what police believed to be a weapon. He was shot once in the stomach when he confronted officers, Distelrath said. The man was taken to a hospital for treatment. The couple refused to give police their names.