Car Chase Ends With Arrest in Residence

A 30-year-old man with an extensive criminal record including manslaughter was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle after a police chase through the San Fernando Valley, authorities said.

John Beck of Pacoima was arrested in a residence at a Chatsworth mobile home park where the chase ended, said Det. Kenneth Belt of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Auto Theft Task Force.

Beck was convicted of another car theft last October and sentenced to 18 months in prison but apparently served only part of the term, Belt said. “Obviously, the court did not take us seriously when we filed last time,” he said.

Police said on Sunday night Beck stole a 1985 Honda Civic from a residence in the 6200 block of Yarmouth Avenue in Reseda. Officers from the West Valley station spotted the red vehicle at Reseda and Victory boulevards in Van Nuys about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and tried to stop Beck, who sped away, police said.

He led LAPD officers, detectives and a police helicopter on a chase along various streets in Encino and Reseda, losing them on several occasions, police said.

Inside the park in the 21500 block of Lassen Street, Beck abruptly parked the car in a garage and broke into a residence where two inhabitants barricaded themselves in a bathroom, police said. Police broke in and arrested Beck without further incident.

Before being booked, Beck was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center to be treated for cuts and other injuries.

The people in the home did not know Beck, Belt said, adding that Beck knew the location because he had visited a friend there before.

In the car authorities found a 9-millimeter pistol, stereo equipment and other property--indicating Beck may have been using the vehicle to commit burglaries, according to detectives.

Beck’s criminal record dating back to 1988 includes convictions for grand theft auto in 1988 and manslaughter in 1991, when his sentence should have kept him locked up until 1998, Belt said.

Said Belt: “Obviously, the courts didn’t keep him very long.”