Jury convicts man who escaped Newport Beach police

Deepa Bharath

A jury on Tuesday convicted a 26-year-old Montebello man on seven

counts stemming from an escape from a police car on the Costa Mesa

Freeway and the subsequent carjacking of a catering truck in Irvine,

officials said. He faces a maximum of 19 years in prison.

Jurors deliberated for just a day before convicting Abraham Derian of

three counts of carjacking, one count of burglary, one count of escape

from police custody, one count of vandalism and one count of battery on a

police officer.

Derian had attempted a dramatic escape Aug. 4 as he jumped headfirst

from a police car that was heading north on the Costa Mesa Freeway. On

the way out, his pants tore off. The result was he rolled down the

highway wearing only a pair of black socks and a T-shirt.

After escaping the patrol car, Derian, who had been arrested early

that morning on suspicion of burglarizing a home on Balboa Island, led

police on a wild chase through several cities.

Once free, Derian scaled an 8-foot-high chain link fence on the

eastern edge of the freeway, near Pullman Street, and headed into an

industrial complex in Irvine. He then stumbled to a catering truck and

kidnapped the two women and a 4-year-old girl who were inside, using a

knife he found in the truck. He was eventually caught and arrested by La

Habra police.

Derian was taken to Orange County Jail, where he fought with a female

deputy, causing her to suffer a separated shoulder. While at Newport

Beach Jail, he destroyed a telephone and ripped sheets.