Officer in Freeway Chase Is Hurt in Crash; 2 Men Held

A 29-year-old police officer was injured when his vehicle crashed while he was pursuing two alleged car thieves on the shoulder of the Riverside Freeway, authorities said Monday.

Officer George Crum, an eight-year veteran, was on patrol about 8 p.m. Sunday when he saw two men driving near Orangethorpe and Magnolia avenues in a car that had been reported stolen in Anaheim, Fullerton Police Lt. Jeff Roop said. The suspects, who are brothers, sped onto the freeway when they saw the patrol car, Roop said.

As the brothers approached a parked vehicle on the shoulder, they “swerved out of the way,” Roop said. “But the officer didn’t see it because he was blocked.”

Crum struck the parked vehicle and suffered a fractured vertebra. He was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he is expected to recover from his injuries, Roop said.

“The bad guys also lost control of their car and struck several things before ending up in the bushes,” Roop said.

The men ran away from the car but both were captured, police said. Boyd Vincent Coddington Jr., 27, of Huntington Park was arrested moments after the accident on suspicion of auto theft and evading arrest.

His 31-year-old brother, Daniel Ray Coddington, also of Huntington Park, was arrested by Anaheim police about two hours later “as he was trying to steal another car to get home,” Roop said. The men were not seriously injured and are being held at the Fullerton city jail in lieu of $50,000 bail each.