Chase ends in Costa Mesa

Marisa O’Neil

A police pursuit that started with a carjacking at gunpoint in Santa

Ana nearly ended with shots fired when the armed suspect started to

run from police following a crash in Costa Mesa early Wednesday

morning.

The suspect led police on a chase through six cities at speeds

sometimes more than 100 mph, Garden Grove Lt. Paul Prince said. The

chase ended when the driver’ car hopped a curb and skidded into two

parked cars in an auto repair shop parking lot in the 1700 block of

Anaheim Avenue, police said. The man -- holding a handgun -- then got

out of the car.

“It looked like he was starting to flee,” Prince said. “He either

tripped or fell and the gun fell out of his hands.

“The officers saw him with the gun and were prepared to exercise

deadly force. But they were able to run up and grab him before using

any deadly force.”

Santa Ana police arrested Jose Morales, 22, of Santa Ana, and

charged him with carjacking, vehicle theft, evasion, carrying a

concealed weapon, carrying a loaded firearm in a public place and

possessing a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school -- near the site

of the alleged carjacking. He is being held without bail in the

Orange County Jail.

The pursuit started with a reported carjacking at midnight in the

600 block of Rosewood Avenue in Santa Ana, said Santa Ana Police Sgt.

Lorenzo Carrillo. A caller reported to police that he was sitting in

his 2005 Scion, when a man armed with a handgun demanded his car.

Santa Ana officers took a report and broadcast descriptions of the

vehicle and suspect on a countywide channel, Carrillo said.

Nearly an hour later, Garden Grove police attempted to pull over a

car for a traffic violation at the intersection of Magnolia Street

and Garden Grove Boulevard, Prince said. The car fled and police

followed as the driver went through Westminster and Huntington Beach,

police said.

Officers matched the vehicle description to the carjacked Scion

and notified Santa Ana police. Huntington Beach police ground units

and a helicopter joined the pursuit when the suspect got on the San

Diego (405) Freeway and headed south, police said.

The Scion then took the Corona del Mar (73) Freeway south and got

off at Campus Drive in Newport Beach, heading south on Irvine Avenue,

Costa Mesa Sgt. Marty Carver said.

The Eagle police helicopter, which serves Costa Mesa, also joined

the pursuit as it continued east on 17th Street, Carver said.

The suspect then turned onto Anaheim Avenue at a high rate of

speed at 1:10 a.m., striking a curb in front of the Costa Mesa Auto

Service Center.

The car drove through some bushes, across the parking lot and

under the front end of a camper parked there, store manager James

Tallman said. It then struck the front end of a pickup truck and

smashed into the rear of a van, sending the van into a brick wall.

A man who was sleeping in the van was slightly injured and

paramedics took him to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Carver

said.

When Tallman was called to the scene about a half hour later,

Morales was already in custody, he said. The suspect’s gun still lay

in the parking lot, surrounded by police officers, Tallman said.

“They were guarding it with their lives,” he said.

Costa Mesa police investigated the accident scene, Carver said.

Morales is scheduled to be arraigned today in Santa Ana.