Two Police Vehicles Collide During Chase; Officer Hurt

NEWPORT BEACH —  A motorcycle officer was injured Friday when he collided with a police car as both vehicles chased the driver of a stolen car.

Officer Howard Eisenberg, 41, suffered facial cuts and a broken nose in the collision near West Coast Highway and Riverside Avenue about 3:30 p.m., police said.

Another motorcycle officer had begun the chase after seeing the driver make an illegal U-turn on West Coast Highway near Newport Boulevard.

The driver of the car, a Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo reported stolen from Big Bear Lake on Oct. 6, led police in and out of Costa Mesa, with the two motorcycles and police car in pursuit.

A short time after the police car and motorcycle collided, the fleeing vehicle was trapped by other officers in the 2000 block of Aliso Avenue in Newport Beach.

Sgt. Andy Gonis said the driver, Christopher Foster, 21, of San Bernardino, ran from the car and tossed away a bag containing a loaded weapon.

He was tracked by helicopter and arrested.

A passenger, Adrian Rosu, 22, of Grand Terrace, also was arrested on suspicion of auto theft.

Gonis said that “additional evidence possibly linking them to other crimes” was recovered from the car.

Both men were being held at the Newport Beach Jail.