Driver Leads Officers on 80-Mile Chase to Calabasas

A man who police said brandished a knife at workers in a San Clemente tow yard led officers on a televised chase Friday through Orange and Los Angeles counties before surrendering in front of a home in Calabasas.

Daniel Pike, 47, was arrested after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies surrounded him in front of the house, said Hector Rivera, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

No one was injured during the 80-mile chase, which was broadcast live by local TV stations as the procession moved slowly through rush-hour traffic, often going only 10 mph.

Pike, a transient whose last known address was in San Clemente, had been arrested Thursday in connection with a misdemeanor, Rivera said, and the van, in which he was apparently living, was impounded.

Orange County deputies responded to a call about 2:30 p.m. Friday from A.C. Tow, where Pike had gone to retrieve the Ford Aerostar. Workers told officers that when they tried to stop Pike from taking the vehicle, he jumped from the van and chased them with a large knife.

“Fortunately, he was unable to catch them,” Rivera said.

Pike then returned to the van and drove north on Interstate 5, with police cars in pursuit. The chase continued north on the San Diego Freeway into Los Angeles County, turned west on the Ventura Freeway and exited at Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas.

After pulling into a driveway, Pike nonchalantly exited the van and walked toward the house--reportedly his mother’s--ignoring repeated orders by deputies who surrounded him with guns drawn. When he stopped at the front door, still ignoring orders to stop, officers shot him with a bean bag. He lay face down on the ground as officers handcuffed him. The 4:45 p.m. arrest came two hours and 15 minutes after the incident began.

Los Angeles deputies turned Pike over to Orange County officers, who arrested him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest. He was being held Friday night at the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana.