Man to Stand Trial After Televised Chase : Courts: Patrick Lattanzio is charged with evading arrest, hit-and-run and other violations.

A Canoga Park man was ordered Monday to stand trial on felony charges stemming from a police chase through the west San Fernando Valley last month that was broadcast live on local television.

After a brief preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Municipal Court, Judge Robert L. Swasey found sufficient evidence to order Richard Patrick Lattanzio, 39, tried on charges of felony evading arrest, hit-and-run, driving with a suspended license and driving with a blood-alcohol level above .08%, the state’s legal limit.

Lattanzio was arrested April 25 after leading Los Angeles police on a half-hour chase from West Hills to Chatsworth to Woodland Hills.

Swasey dismissed a charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

A urine test found that Lattanzio’s blood-alcohol level was .09%, lawyers in the case said in court. But because a field sobriety test was not given to Lattanzio at the time of his arrest, Swasey ruled there was insufficient evidence to sustain the charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Lattanzio will be arraigned in Superior Court on May 22. He remains in jail in lieu of $155,000 bail.

Lattanzio is being prosecuted under the state’s “three strikes” law, which provides for double the maximum sentence for conviction of a second serious felony and an additional year for each previous prison sentence. If convicted, the evading-arrest charge would mark Lattanzio’s second “strike.” In 1983 he was convicted of attempted arson, prosecutors said.

Lattanzio has also served two prior prison sentences, both for felony drunk driving. Those convictions, though, are not considered strikes under the “three strikes” law.

If convicted on the current charges, Lattanzio faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, according to prosecutors.

Police chased Lattanzio, who was riding a Honda 750 motorcycle, after he failed to pull over on suspicion of speeding. The chase, which was televised by some local stations, ended after Lattanzio crashed into a car at the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and De Soto Avenue. He allegedly tried to flee, but witnesses held him for police.