Officer Finds Halloween an Eventful Day : Crime: Bank robbery, forgery suspects are in custody after pair of Fountain Valley chases.

Halloween brought more than a few surprises for Officer Jim Floren on Tuesday.

In the morning, Floren found himself in a high-speed chase of men suspected of robbing a Home Bank branch at gunpoint. The chase ended with the arrest of a father and son and a third man.

About four hours later, Floren again was speeding through town in pursuit of a man suspected of using a forged check to pay for a room at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel on Slater Avenue. Eventually, Floren rammed the suspect’s car, ending that chase.

“All I want to do is go home and take my kids trick or treating,” Floren said moments after the second chase. “It was a bizarre day. It started off slow, and things just picked up and snowballed.”

The first problem began, said Sgt. Dann Bean, just after 10 a.m. when a man pointed a gun at a Home Bank teller in the branch on Magnolia Street near Warner Avenue, while an accomplice looked on. The two then escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash in a turquoise Honda Civic driven by a third man.

Minutes later, a Westminster police officer spotted the Honda going south on Beach Boulevard and followed it. When police ordered the driver to stop, he instead speeded up and turned into the Huntington Beach Mall at 7777 Edinger Ave. Two men got out of the car and ran through a Mervyn’s Department Store but were caught by Westminster officers outside another store entrance, Bean said.

When Floren arrived moments later, he helped arrest Miguel Angel Branez, 48, his son, Ernesto Branez, 20, and Ned A. Harrell, 21, all of Long Beach. They were being held at the Huntington Beach Jail on suspicion of robbery.

Police said they recovered two handguns and the stolen cash from the car. Investigators believe the men are connected to previous robberies in the area, Bean said.

Later Tuesday, Floren was in the thick of it again after a hotel clerk became suspicious of a group of guests who were checking out.

The four men had littered the room and had tried to pay for it with a check that the clerk suspected was forged.

When police arrived, one man in the group slipped out of the hotel in the 9000 block of Slater and sped away in a Nissan. The officers, joined now by Floren, chased him down Brookhurst Street at speeds reaching 90 m.p.h. The suspect turned west on Garfield Avenue, then cut through Huntington Beach on Bushard Street.

There, his car spun out of control and careened toward Floren, police said. Trying to stop the suspect, Floren drove into the driver’s side of the other car.

The suspect drove into a condominium complex, where his disabled car stopped. He abandoned it and fled on foot, and another police officer quickly arrested him.

The suspect, identified as Steven Michael Jacobbe, 25, of Whittier, was held on suspicion of evading arrest, possessing a fraudulent check, commercial burglary and vandalism.

Although the day’s bustle is uncommon for the city of Fountain Valley, “These things happen now and then,” Floren said.

As he was preparing to go home to take his 3-year-old son trick or treating, Floren offered some possible explanations for his day.

“I’ve been here 13 years. Maybe it’s the lucky 13, and today’s Halloween,” he said.

Times staff photographer Mark Boster contributed to this report.