Chase Ends in Motorcyclist’s Arrest : Capture: Televised, half-hour pursuit through West Valley concludes when bystanders tackle the suspect after his vehicle hits a car.

A drunken motorcyclist led police on a half-hour chase across the western San Fernando Valley on Tuesday until he crashed into a car and was tackled by two comedy show promoters and two other bystanders, authorities said.

Live TV helicopter broadcasts of the chase drew would-be captors into the streets in the cyclist’s path, attempting to stop him.

The strange, relatively slow pursuit began as police attempted to stop Richard Patrick Lattanzio, 39, of Canoga Park, on his Honda 750 motorcycle for driving 65 m.p.h. on Platt Street near Sherman Way, said Sgt. Dan Mastro of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Lattanzio fled “and reached speeds of up to 70 m.p.h. at times, driving on sidewalks, running red lights and rolling over a couple of medians,” said Mastro, who watched the chase as it was broadcast live on television.

As Lattanzio made his way from West Hills to Chatsworth to Woodland Hills, he waved or gestured toward the helicopter, acknowledging the attention, Mastro said.

When he headed east on Ventura Boulevard, a group of four men, obviously aware of the chase, dashed into the street and tried to stop him. Lattanzio was forced to turn back, and then circled again and weaved through the men as they ran after him.

“As he turned around to see if they were still chasing him on foot, he hit the passing car,” said Mastro.

The motorcyclist crashed into a silver Mercedes-Benz driven by Elva Munoz of Woodland Hills as she headed south on De Soto Avenue with her 12-year-old son Christopher. Lattanzio, dazed from the impact of the crash, dropped the cycle and tried to stumble away from the intersection but was soon surrounded by a second group of four men.

As one unidentified man ran up and tackled him, the three others jumped in, holding him down until police arrived, said Mastro.

“That is certainly something we don’t condone, but they held him until we arrived,” Mastro said.

Lattanzio, on the ground, continued to struggle as pursuing police officers piled in, replacing the civilians.

Keith Durr, 27, and Mario Higareda, 20, both of Woodland Hills, who identified themselves as comedy show promoters, had just pulled into the gas station when they first noticed the chase.

“We saw all the traffic and this lady said there was a chase so we walked out to the street and saw the guy hit the car,” said Durr. “He got up and started coming toward us and we just wrestled him down to the ground.”

Keith’s wife, Pamela Durr, still in the car with her 2-year-old daughter, Shakeelah, was shocked at what was unfolding before her.

“I thought, ‘What if that guy has a gun?’ I mean, it is cool to help out but it happened all of a sudden and I was scared,” Durr said, her eyes still red from crying.

“But you just can’t be scared in these dangerous situations,” Higareda piped up, embracing his girlfriend.

Munoz, whose car was struck by Lattanzio, said, “My son and I were looking at the helicopter and wondered what was going on--I didn’t think I was going to drive right in the middle of it.”

Her car had minor damage but she and her son were not injured.

Lattanzio, who suffered leg and arm injuries in the collision, was arrested on suspicion of felony evading and drunk driving, said Mastro. He was released in February from jail after serving a DUI sentence. He is being held on $35,000 bail at the Van Nuys police station.