Motorcyclist Fleeing Police Runs Into Bus

A motorcyclist who led police on a wild chase through four cities, ripping through traffic at speeds of up to 125 mph, slammed into a bus Monday afternoon and was seriously injured, authorities said.

The pursuit was captured live on TV. It ended after 40 minutes at an Anaheim intersection when the driver, who had weaved around 18-wheelers on the freeway and run red lights at busy intersections, broadsided a bus.

Garden Grove police officers gave up the ground chase after about five minutes when the motorcyclist reached speeds of more than 100 mph.

“It was too dangerous to try to keep up with it, so we stood back and prepared ourselves for the crash,” said Garden Grove Officer John Yergler. “He’s not worth it.”

That left officers overhead in a helicopter, along with TV news crews, to track the motorcyclist, identified as Robert William Brog Jr., 23, of Huntington Beach. Despite many close calls, no one else was injured.

Police say Brog had taken off from a Garden Grove mobile home park at 1:40 p.m. after trying to run over a police officer with his red Kawasaki motorcycle.

The man had been acting suspiciously, drawing the attention of plainclothes officers who tried to speak with him at the mobile home park near Garden Grove and Harbor boulevards, Yergler said.

But the man sped away and circled the park, police said. Realizing he was cornered, the man revved his engine and tried to run over a police officer, Yergler said. The officer jumped behind the door of his van and was not hit.

The motorcyclist then fled the mobile home park onto surface streets and several freeways, including the Orange and the Riverside. From Garden Grove, he led authorities through Santa Ana, Orange and Anaheim, where he took the westbound Riverside Freeway exit at East Street.

There the motorcycle approached a slow-moving Orange County Transportation Authority bus, which was passing the freeway offramp.

Police said the man braked and skidded about 80 feet before striking the side of the out-of-service bus, which was empty except for a driver.

Anaheim police officers arrived moments later and handcuffed the man, who yelled and flailed his arms and legs before he was taken into custody, said Garden Grove police Lt. John Woods.

Later, the motorcyclist was listed in serious condition with a head injury and possibly a broken wrist, said a spokeswoman at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange.

Times staff writer Rene Lynch contributed to this story.