Chase Ends at Border

A burglary suspect, holding his young son hostage, led Los Angeles police on a 150-mile high-speed pursuit Monday that ended in a dramatic standoff at the Mexican border, where the suspect dropped the child and sprinted across the international frontier into the waiting arms of Mexican authorities.

The California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles Police Department officers who had been chasing the suspect took a few steps across the border--a faded yellow line painted on the roadway at San Ysidro--but could only watch as he ran into Mexico.

Mexican authorities turned over the suspect, Eddy Price, to U.S. officials Monday afternoon, four hours after he fled the country. Los Angeles police said Price, a 35-year-old West Los Angeles man, was wanted in connection with a December burglary on the Westside.

Price was transferred to Los Angeles Monday night, where he will face charges of burglary, evading arrest and child endangerment. He was being held without bail.

The tense border confrontation, aired live on television, included the scene of a U.S. customs officer trying to talk Price into surrendering moments after his car came to a stop about 30 feet from the border.

Even by the standards of Southern California, where freeway police chases are part of the everyday din of television news, Monday’s drama was unusual.

It reached its climax as Price held his 1-year-old son, Justin, in his arms, inching toward the border while more than a dozen officers with guns drawn surrounded them.

Price, holding a knife to his own throat, suddenly gave up the child to the customs officer just a foot or so inside the United States, and ran toward a row of customs booths marked “Mexico.” Soon he was swallowed up by Mexican police officers and television crews.

Only an American police dog violated international protocol and continued the chase into Mexico, where it was joined by a Mexican police dog. At least one of the dogs apparently bit Price before he was taken into custody.

“It’s a different situation than we normally see,” said CHP spokesman Stan Hruza. “We could only follow them up to the border. After that, we don’t have jurisdiction in Mexico.”

Justin was unharmed, officials said. After he was examined at a San Diego hospital, authorities drove him to Los Angeles, where he was to be reunited with his mother, police said.

Interviewed by reporters at a Mexican police station near the border crossing, Price professed his innocence and said--to the bewilderment of the border media corps--that he simply wanted to go shopping in Tijuana.

“I didn’t do anything illegal. I was driving my car, that’s all,” he said. “I don’t care what people think, I’m my own man and I’ll do what I’m going to do.”

Los Angeles police said the chase began just before 9 a.m. when detectives, following a tip, arrived at Price’s home to arrest him.

“When [the detectives] got there, he was just getting into his car and driving away, pulling out of the driveway,” said LAPD spokesman Sgt. Willie Guerrero. “They tried to flag him down, but he took off.”

Detectives set out after him in an unmarked car. They radioed for help, and an LAPD patrol car picked up the pursuit southbound on the San Diego Freeway at El Segundo Boulevard.

The chase continued through Orange County and into San Diego County, where CHP patrol cars took control. Transfer of responsibility for the chase was hampered somewhat, CHP officials said, when the LAPD patrol cars drove out of range of their Los Angeles-based radio transmitters.

Authorities said Price switched from Interstate 5 to Interstate 805, speeding toward the border at speeds of 70 to 95 mph. CHP officials said they alerted the U.S. Customs Service and the Border Patrol as the vehicle continued to speed south.

Price zigzagged his car past the rows of automobiles waiting in line at the busy border crossing, at one point driving on the shoulder, coming to a stop only when an idling utility vehicle and traffic barrier blocked the way.

Television video showed one officer breaking the window of the car. A minute or so later, Price emerged holding Justin.

LAPD spokesman Eduardo Funes said the presence of the child made the officers at the scene more cautious.

“If the guy gets away and goes into Mexico, big deal,” Funes said. “Let’s just get the kid safe and prevent an atrocity.”

Al Morales, a supervisory inspector with U.S. Customs, said he approached the vehicle and tried to talk Price into surrendering. Instead, the suspect moved to the back seat of the vehicle. Morales said he saw Price briefly point the broken tip of the knife blade at his son’s throat.

The Customs officer said Price threatened to “cut the baby’s throat” if the police didn’t back off. Morales eventually coaxed Price out of the car by promising him that he would be able to cross into Mexico on foot if he would hand over the child.

With helicopters circling overhead, the two men walked toward the border. At that point, “he didn’t struggle, he willingly gave us the baby,” Morales said. Once inside Mexico, Price was tackled by officers and dragged into a patrol car.

Morales, meanwhile, handed Justin to another U.S. customs inspector, Charmaine Rodriguez, who tended to the boy. The inspector removed a blanket, teddy bear and bottle from Price’s car.

Back in Los Angeles, Justin’s mother was “distraught . . . by the whole thing,” Funes said.

In Tijuana, Price sounded a note of contrition.

“I made my bed and I’ll lie in it,” he said in a raspy voice as he sat at a table, handcuffed, one arm bandaged and his T-shirt ripped. “This was caused by my own stupidity.”

Sometime later, officers from Grupo Beta, a Mexican police unit that patrols the border area, escorted Price on foot through heavy border traffic from their headquarters to an INS facility on the U.S. side.

Ellingwood reported from Tijuana. Tobar reported from Los Angeles.