2 Robbery Suspects Arrested in Stolen Van After Chase

Two suspected robbers led police on a collision-punctuated freeway chase Monday from Montclair to Sherman Oaks, where their stolen van crashed into a tree and one of the suspects and a CHP officer were wounded by the same bullet from the officer’s gun.

None of those involved were seriously injured.

In custody on traffic and burglary charges were Carlos Roberson, 31, of Los Angeles and Melvin Curry, 33, of Compton.

They were sighted in Montclair by local officers staking out an area where four clothing and electronics stores had been robbed since June 12 by thieves who smashed display windows, grabbed merchandise and sped away.

Roberson and Curry drove through a parking lot about 6:15 a.m. Monday but sped away when they spotted a uniformed officer in an unmarked car observing them, police said. The officer ran a check on the silver van and found that it had been reported stolen.

The chase headed for Los Angeles on the San Bernardino Freeway with California Highway Patrol officers joining in.

The van collided with several vehicles as the pair fled into downtown Los Angeles and north on the Hollywood Freeway, said CHP Sgt. Ernie Garcia and Lt. Kevin Piper of the Montclair Police Department. Other vehicles were damaged but there were no serious injuries, Garcia said.

At Woodman Avenue in Sherman Oaks, the van left the freeway, and as Roberson tried to reenter the freeway, the van collided with a white pickup truck, slightly injuring its driver, and crashed into a tree, Garcia said.

Roberson and Curry fled on foot, he said. Curry was arrested in a nearby apartment complex without incident, but when a CHP officer caught up with Roberson, they struggled for the officer’s .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, and the gun fired, striking the officer in the left index finger and Roberson in the lower back, Garcia said.

The officer, whose name Garcia declined to make public, was released from Sherman Oaks Hospital after treatment for a minor wound.

Roberson was treated at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills and was released to police custody, a hospital spokeswoman said.