Fountain Valley : Theft Suspect Caught on Roof After Police Chase

A Santa Ana man was arrested on suspicion of auto theft and hit-and-run driving after he reportedly led police on a high-speed chase through Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa about 7 p.m. Monday night. Jim Tafoya, 26, was booked into County Jail without bail after police arrested him on the roof of a business on Warner Avenue east of Harbor Boulevard.

The chase began when Fountain Valley officers spotted several attendants at a gas station chasing a man as he sped away in a pickup. As the truck turned onto Harbor, the driver struck a passing motorist, then headed south, running several red lights in the process, police said. When he reached Warner, he made a sharp left turn, hitting another car. The fleeing driver then stopped the pickup and scrambled up an outside ladder to the top of a business building, where the Costa Mesa police helicopter team spotted him, police said.

Officers later discovered that the pickup had been stolen from Garden Grove and said that the driver was attempting to steal tires from the gas station when attendants confronted him. No shots were fired during the chase. Neither driver of the vehicles hit during the chase was injured.