Murder Charge Is Filed in Chase-Related Death

An 18-year-old Altadena man who led police on a brief car chase that left one person dead has been charged with murder and several other offenses, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.

Marcus Ivan McClellan is accused of killing Veronica Covarrubias, 28, of Santa Ana. She was a passenger in one of several vehicles involved in crashes during the chase Saturday, prosecutors said.

McClellan is also charged with illegally taking a vehicle, evading an officer, three counts of causing an accident while driving under the influence and three counts of leaving an accident scene. If convicted, he could be imprisoned for life, the district attorney’s office said.

Bail has been set at $1.22 million. An arraignment has not yet been scheduled.

The pursuit began Saturday afternoon when officers spotted McClellan driving south on the Pasadena Freeway in a 1988 Toyota that had been reported stolen from its owner in Palmdale, prosecutors said. When officers gave chase, the driver went south on Broadway and drove through downtown at speeds up to 50 mph, the district attorney’s office said.

McClellan reportedly rear-ended a pickup and sideswiped another vehicle at Olympic Boulevard, fatally injuring Covarrubias. As the chase continued on Olympic and other streets, McClellan’s car hit two more vehicles, a police cruiser and a pedestrian, prosecutors said. The pedestrian was hospitalized with leg injuries not considered critical, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The chase ended at Hill Street and Pico Boulevard when the car McClellan was driving crashed and he was ejected.

He suffered what officers described as moderate injuries and was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where he remains. Two people riding in the car with him suffered neck and back injuries, the CHP said.