Suspect Eludes Officers After Chase, Fire

Police were searching Saturday night for a man who barreled his Ford Explorer through a cul-de-sac barricade and across Metrolink tracks during a high-speed chase through city streets.

Police and canine units combed an apartment complex at Parthenia Street and Etiwanda Avenue where the man was thought to be hiding. During the search, a fire broke out in a third-floor apartment, Los Angeles Police Officer Jason Lee said.

Three officers suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to a local hospital, Lee said.

It was unknown whether the suspect, who police identified as Steven Maurice Miko, 36, of Reseda, set the fire.

Miko also is wanted on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly pointing a handgun at a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in a March 17 incident in Palmdale, Lee said.

Saturday’s chase started about 4:40 p.m. at Roscoe and Reseda boulevards when police approached the suspect’s vehicle, said Officer Raymond Diaz.

The driver fled north on White Oak Avenue before crashing his vehicle through a metal barricade where the street dead-ends. He then drove almost a mile west along the railroad tracks before abandoning the car near the apartment building. Police evacuated residents from the building and nearby homes, Diaz said.

The fire broke out just before 8 p.m., but firefighters were unable to reach the blaze for more than 20 minutes because the scene was not safe, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.