Chase on the 55 Leads to Hospital, Citation

Orange police have heard a lot of excuses from speeding drivers.

But the one they got from Allie Mallad of Riverside after he sped away from them on the Costa Mesa Freeway on Sunday morning happened to be true.

When an Orange police officer tried to pull over Mallad, 43, for speeding at 10:40 a.m., he refused to stop, Lt. John Higley said.

Instead, Higley said, Mallad used his cell phone to call 911. He informed the California Highway Patrol that he was headed to Riverside Community Hospital--where his sick child had been taken--and he wasn’t going to stop until he got there.

The CHP officer also urged him to stop, but Mallad headed east on the Riverside Freeway “well in excess of the speed limit,” police said.

When he crossed into Riverside County, CHP officers there took over the chase, Higley said. And as Mallad had said, he did indeed stop at the hospital, where officers were waiting and took him into custody.

Mallad’s child was at the hospital with her mother and uncle, Higley said. When Orange police arrived, they issued him a citation for reckless driving rather than arresting him.

“Based on the circumstances, we didn’t take him in,” Higley said. “He was very apologetic, and his family members were there and they were very apologetic too.”

Despite the compassionate response from police, Higley said that Mallad should have pulled over--especially because the sick person was not in the car but at the hospital receiving medical treatment. Higley declined to describe the nature of the child’s illness.

Members of the public who may find themselves in a similar situation should ask a friend or neighbor for a ride to the hospital, Higley advised.

“They should have somebody drive them. It gets them there safely, and gives them the opportunity to talk to someone about their feelings,” he said.