The California Highway Patrol had their hands full Sunday night. Instead of standing on riot control lines, they went on Mr. Toad’s wild ride and pursued anarchists from San Bernardino to Garden Grove at high speed.
Feel the need for speed
One California driver has been playing LA Street Racing way too much. He may be good on the corners at up to 100 miles an hour, and have a map of the freeways in his head, but he forgot that in real life, police use helicopters too. The funniest part about the whole episode is that the driver suddenly felt the need for speed when he was being pulled over for a minor “traffic code violation.” You can bet he had a better reason than that to flee from law enforcement.
The reckless driver was taken into custody, but not until he knew he was caught. After leading the CHP onto the freeway at high speed in San Bernardino, he led multiple units from at least two jurisdictions on what police call a “dangerous pursuit on several freeways which ended in a crash.”
Just after 11:00 p.m. San Bernardino cops caught a minor infraction. They don’t specify if he was speeding, turned without a signal, or what, but it wasn’t anything major. The driver decided to hit the highway at 100 miles an hour. Starting on the 91, he headed to the 55 until he got to the 405. There he got off on surface streets and continued at high speed.
Speeding recklessly through the night
The news chopper picked him up after he went south to the John Wayne Airport, then came back north. They and the police helicopter kept the suspect in sight as he continued to speed recklessly, but somewhat skillfully, through the night.
Despite all his skill behind the wheel, the driver wasn’t counting on getting clipped in the right rear fender by an RV the size of a bus with both vehicles moving at a speed of around 50 miles an hour when they crashed. The fugitive’s vehicle spun out of control, spiraling down the roadway until slamming a pole at 38 miles an hour.
Dazed from the impact, both the passenger and driver leaped from the vehicle and scattered in opposite directions. The news chopper continued filming the driver until he ran into a group of police, realized he wasn’t going any further, threw his hands in the air and finally surrendered. He could have done that back in San Bernardino and faced a whole lot less hassle. Police didn’t take long tracking down the passenger, so he’s in jail now too. The only speed this anarchist will see for a while is the speediness of his trial. Thankfully, the two passengers inside the RV, “did not appear to be injured.”