Police chase from Costa Mesa to Huntington Beach Monday ends in arrest of 62-year-old

A 62-year-old man with ties to Long Beach was arrested by Costa Mesa police Monday, after an attempted traffic stop led to a pursuit that ended in a tactical PIT maneuver on Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.

The incident took place at around 11 a.m., when patrol officers on Newport Boulevard attempted to stop a blue Chevrolet Camaro whose driver was believed to have had a felony warrant, according to a Costa Mesa Police Department social media post Monday.

A moderate-speed pursuit ensued, as officers followed the vehicle into the city of Huntington Beach and a helicopter deployed by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department circled overhead to track the car’s whereabouts, the release indicated.

Officers from Huntington Beach took over and, in about 25 minutes, ended the pursuit on PCH using a “precision immobilization technique,” in which a patrol vehicle makes contact with another vehicle to push it off course and force the driver to stop.

The driver — later identified by CMPD spokeswoman Roxi Fyad as 62-year-old Dean Joseph Backlund, whose last known address is in Long Beach — was taken into custody and booked into the Costa Mesa jail on suspicion of felony evading and for the felony warrant related to an alleged assault on a police officer.

While no one was injured, people on social media reported seeing a blue Camaro in the area running through multiple red lights on PCH at the time of the pursuit.

Orange County court records show Backlund pleaded guilty to resisting an executive officer on Feb. 8, stemming from an incident that took place on Dec. 24, and was sentenced to serve 94 days in jail, two year’s probation and ordered to pay a fine.

While it is unclear why the Long Beach resident was not still serving out that sentence on Monday, court records showed Tuesday that Backlund had violated the terms of his probation.

Los Angeles Superior Court records indicate Backlund was convicted on Nov. 17 for committing battery on a police officer and sentenced to eight days in jail and one year of probation. He also has several other charges, incurred from incidents that reportedly took place between September and March, including taking property without the owner’s consent. Those cases are all pending.

Backlund is due in Orange County Court Wednesday morning for an arraignment hearing.

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