Motorcyclist Not Linked to Slaying, Police Say

A motorcyclist who led police on a high-speed freeway chase through four Orange County cities does not appear to be linked to the 1993 shooting death of a Garden Grove police officer, investigators said Tuesday.

Monday’s chase ended when the motorcyclist, identified by hospital officials as Robert William Broge Jr., skidded into a bus and was seriously injured.

Police allege that the 33-year-old Huntington Beach man tried to run over a police officer and then led authorities on a 40-minute pursuit that unfolded live on television. The pursuit prompted detectives to question whether Broge was connected to the death of Garden Grove Officer Howard Dallies Jr., who was shot by a motorcycle rider.

But further investigation had not turned up any ties between Broge and the unsolved Dallies slaying, Lt. John Woods said Tuesday.

“Nothing would make us happier,” he said. “But the commonality at this point is this guy’s got long hair, Howard’s guy had long hair, and they were both on motorcycles.”

Broge is scheduled to be arraigned today in Municipal Court in Westminster on charges of evading arrest and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. He was in stable condition Tuesday at Western Medical Center in Anaheim, where he was “walking around,” Woods said.

On Monday, police said, Broge caught the attention of an undercover officer, who wanted to question him about his erratic driving in the area of Garden Grove and Harbor boulevards. The motorcyclist then tried to run over the officer, police said.

The man then sped away, initiating a pursuit with speeds up to 125 mph on surface streets and freeways. The chase ended when the rider exited the Riverside Freeway at East Street and broadsided a bus. Anaheim officers arrested Broge.

Police said they don’t know why the motorcyclist fled.