A Wild Pursuit From Irvine to Compton

A man was arrested Monday after leading police on a wild chase through Orange County, stealing a Porsche in Irvine and a Suburban in Garden Grove and then barricading himself in a house in Compton, police said.

The incident began shortly after 11 a.m. at Steve’s Detailing Service in Irvine. An auto detailer there saw Edward Luis McCarter allegedly steal a Porsche and called police.

Irvine police found McCarter driving onto the northbound San Diego Freeway at MacArthur Boulevard and followed him off the Bristol Street exit to South Coast Plaza, said Irvine Police Sgt. Craig Smith.

In the mall parking lot, McCarter, 40, eluded police and slipped back onto the freeway in the same direction. Although the officers lost him, a Costa Mesa police helicopter clocked McCarter driving 120 mph, Smith said.

McCarter, who is from Simi Valley, then tried to exit at Seal Beach Boulevard, Smith said, but police cars had blockaded it, so he turned around and drove against the flow of traffic at nearly 100 mph on the northbound San Diego Freeway and exited at Valley View Street in Garden Grove, Smith said.

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McCarter had damaged one side of the Porsche when he sideswiped a car on the freeway. He abandoned the car near a building and then confronted a man in a white Suburban.

After a brief fight that left the man with slight neck injuries, McCarter took the Suburban and headed north on Valley View, Smith said.

Police trailed McCarter through Cypress and Los Alamitos until he stopped at a transmission shop on Alondra Boulevard in Compton, Smith said. Officers in the helicopter watched him get into another car and drive to a house in Compton, where he barricaded himself.

Though there were several people in the home at the time, police said nobody was injured.

McCarter hid in the attic but was detected by a police dog.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team and Irvine and Compton police surrounded the house.

When police showed McCarter a bean-bag gun that they were planning to fire at him, he came out at 1:50 p.m., soiled from the attic but uninjured, police said.

After being hosed down to get the soot off, McCarter was arrested and brought back to Orange County, where he was in custody Monday night.