Driver Fleeing Police Makes a Big Splash, Then Gives Up

Americo Victor Morales knew he was in a tight spot when he looked into his rear view mirror early Thursday and saw the flashing lights of a police cruiser.

His license was suspended. He had pleaded guilty to drunk driving two weeks earlier. And the sports car he was driving belonged to a friend.

So the 35-year-old hair stylist said he put the pedal to the metal and led police on a high-speed chase from Santa Ana to Laguna Beach. Then, for reasons not entirely clear to Morales himself, he abandoned the car near the beach, dove into the chilly waters behind Las Brisas Restaurant and began swimming toward Catalina.

Police simply waited on shore for their man to tire himself out. After swimming to a sandbar about 200 yards out, police said, Morales made a U-turn and returned to shore and the waiting arms of officers.

“I panicked,” Morales said at the Santa Ana Jail Thursday night. “I know it sounds silly, but I just wanted to swim up onto the rocks and run and tell my friend to come get the (car) before they impounded it.”

A female companion whom Morales left sitting in the car when he headed for the waves was questioned by police and released. Morales said she was a co-worker but declined to give her name.

According to police, the bizarre incident began at 2:41 a.m. when a police officer spotted Morales driving erratically in the 1000 block of McFadden Avenue in Santa Ana and tried to pull him over.

Ignoring the flashing lights, Morales raced along city streets in Santa Ana, then turned onto the San Diego Freeway at Bristol Street, police said.

Chased by three police cars and a helicopter, the sports car reached speeds of 100 mph, police said. Finally, it turned off on Jamboree Road and sped down Pacific Coast Highway into Laguna Beach.

According to police, Morales turned back into Newport Beach briefly, then headed back to Laguna Beach.

But things got worse for Morales when the right front tire blew.

“I tried to keep going but the tire popped and it was nothing but rim,” he said. “My friend was saying, ‘They’re going to catch you.’ But I just told her I just wanted to get back to the house so I could get the car to my roommate.”

When it became clear that the police were closing in, Morales abandoned the car just below Heisler Park. He said he ran down a steep cliff, jumped into the ocean and swam toward adjacent Rockpile Beach.

It was the sight of a police boat speeding toward him--its spotlight blinding in the darkness--that convinced him to give up.

“I seen that boat coming toward me and I figured they’d probably try to drown me,” Morales said. “So I started walking toward the sand.”

According to police, Morales walked to shore in shallow water. Wearing only jeans and socks, he fell to his knees and surrendered.

“He pretty much gave up once he saw the boat,” said lifeguard Tom Trager, who was called to the scene “to yank (Morales) out of the ocean if he started to sink.”

“He was either extremely tired or under the influence of something, because he couldn’t stand on his feet too well,” Trager said.

Morales was booked on suspicion of evading arrest and for traffic violations. Bail was set at $500.

Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.