Arizona Carjack Suspect Arrested in Los Alamitos

A carjacking suspect was arrested Thursday after the vehicle he and a companion were riding in crashed at a freeway on-ramp, police said.

Michael A. DeSmet, 31, was a arrested at a motel near the San Gabriel Freeway.

DeSmet, who has addresses in California and Arizona, was booked at Orange County Jail on carjacking charges and an outstanding warrant for forgery in Long Beach, said Los Alamitos Police Sgt. Ron Lesovsky.

Lesovsky said the crash occurred at the northbound entrance to the San Gabriel River Freeway at Katella Avenue around noon.

Witnesses told police that a man and woman in the car fled the wreckage on foot, with the woman limping.

A check of the car’s license plate indicated that the vehicle had been taken at gunpoint Tuesday in the parking lot of a veterans hospital in Prescott, Ariz. Lesovsky said.

According to Prescott police, a 42-year-old volunteer at the Prescott Veterans Affairs Medical Center was accosted by a man at 6:30 a.m. as he pulled into the hospital’s outpatient parking lot.

The victim told police the man showed him a handgun tucked into the waistband of his pants and demanded that he get out of the car.

The victim got out and handed over the keys. He was not injured, police said.

Los Alamitos officers, with the assistance of a canine unit from Long Beach, searched the area of the wrecked car, Lesovsky said. Inside the car, officers found a handgun they believe was used in the carjacking, he said.

Los Alamitos Police Capt. Arl Farris stopped at a nearby motel and found that a couple matching the description given by witnesses had just registered.

DeSmet was arrested without incident as he crossed the motel parking lot. Lesovsky said that DeSmet acknowledged in an interview that he had fled from the crash scene.

DeSmet’s companion was questioned and released.