Pair Find No Place to Hide : Man, Woman Arrested After CHP Motorcycle Officer Rammed by Car

A man and his girlfriend were arrested after they allegedly rammed a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Tuesday at a freeway off-ramp, pinning him under the machine, and then led officers on a chase through a cornfield and into a quiet neighborhood.

Officials said John Joseph Hennessey, 34, who told police he lives at a Dana Point motel, and his girlfriend, Kimberly Marie Rivero, 24, of Huntington Beach, were arrested about 3:30 p.m. inside a house on Longstreet after the resident came home, became suspicious and notified police.

The unidentified officer who was knocked off his motorcycle suffered leg and arm injuries and was hospitalized briefly, officials said.

Police said the incident began when the motorcycle officer attempted to stop two cars, including a 1978 Mercedes-Benz, for speeding on the Laguna Freeway about 2:45 p.m. One car stopped, but the Mercedes sped away.

The officer radioed that he was following the blue Mercedes.

“From then on, it just escalated,” said CHP spokesman Mike Lundquist. He added that a police helicopter and other police agencies joined the chase.

After pulling off the Santa Ana Freeway at Jeffrey Road, the Mercedes stopped, Lundquist said.

“As the officer on the motorcycle was putting his kickstand down, the driver put the car in reverse and rammed the motorcycle, which fell on the officer, pinning him there and injuring his leg,” Lundquist said.

The car then went forward, but the driver put it in reverse again. The officer pulled his handgun and fired twice at the car, hitting the trunk, Lundquist said.

The driver fled north on Jeffrey Road until he drove into a cornfield between Trabuco Road and Bryan Avenue and abandoned the car. The pair ran through a neighborhood and into a gray-and-white, two-story house on Longstreet, where a woman returning home noticed something strange and flagged down a police officer.

“He and other officers come over to her home to check it out, and lo and behold, there are two suspects upstairs in a child’s bedroom,” said Irvine Police Lt. Sam Allevato.

The woman, who said she did not want to be identified, was shaken but not injured, said her husband. She had noticed that a door that had been left open was locked when she returned home with her two children.

“Her sixth sense was really working,” said her husband, who also did not want his name published.

Neighbors praised the woman for contacting police rather than attempting to go inside her home.

“She knew something was wrong and that’s good,” said neighbor Kathy Patterson. “It’s still pretty scary, huh?”

Melanie Serra, 35, who lives a few doors down from where the suspects were apprehended, said, “This is a real friendly neighborhood. At Christmastime, we have a progressive Christmas party where we go house to house eating different dishes. Everybody knows everybody.”

Allevato said that Rivero had changed into some of the woman’s clothing before she was found.

Three police dogs were used to help find Hennessey and Rivero, including a bloodhound that traced the pair’s scent from the abandoned Mercedes.

“The bloodhound got a good trail right up to the house and right up the stairs into the bedroom where the pair was,” Allevato said. “That confirmed that these two suspects were the one’s involved in the ramming incident.”

Police said Hennessey was on parole for auto theft. In addition, police learned the Mercedes was a stolen vehicle which had been involved in a felony hit and run accident on Monday night.

Both suspects may face attempted murder charges, in addition to being in possession of a stolen car, police said.

Officials also said the driver of the first car the motorcycle officer had pulled over for speeding is being sought in connection with the theft of the Mercedes.