Recently in pursuit Category

From the Associated Press

PASADENA - A naked woman fleeing a parking lot where she was allegedly breaking windows led police on a 28-mile chase last night before she lost control of her car and was apprehended.

The chase began on the 2400 block of Mohawk Street where police responded to calls of a disturbance in a parking lot. The woman fled immediately and led police west on the 210 to the  134 west to the 170 north, before crashing her car on the side of the highway near the intersection of highway 170 and highway 5, Sgt. Vasken Gourdikian said.

A summary of some items we've been covering over the weekend:

1. EL MONTE -- Homicide detectives are investigating the mysterious death of a man whose body was found on the property of an office building Sunday.
2. ROSEMEAD -- The man who died in a fiery crash at the end of a police chase Saturday was driving an SUV that belonged to a woman found shot to death at her Gardena business.
3. LA PUENTE -- A man allegedly shot and wounded two of his roommates during an argument at their house Saturday.
4. SOUTH EL MONTE -- Officials have released the name of a man found who was fatally shot in his car last week.
5. NORWALK -- A man was shot and wounded in the parking lot of a convenience store Sunday.
6. SONORA -- The Montrose Search and Rescue Team rescued a 34-year-old man Sunday after he spent two nights at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft.

A man suspected  of leading West Covina police on a high-speed chase through town before crashing in Irwindale got a little more than he bargained for when police apparently Tasered him in the head.

This photo comes from Raul Roa, who was on scene for the aftermath of the pursuit, which came right by our office complex.

Certain events retain a power that stays with you for life. Clearly the Kennedy assassinations or that of Martin Luther King have that sort of effect on people.

I would argue that June 18, 1994 might be one of those moments -- certainly in my life.

The title of this post should give away the content (if the picture doesn't). I spent that Friday from about 6:30 a.m. until at least 11 p.m. outside Parker Center, O.J. Simpson's Brentwood home and back outside Parker Center as part of one of the most surreal events I'll ever cover.

Here's some of what we ran the following day:

Simpson's arrest ends day of drama

'Fallen American hero' faces murder charges in death of former wife, her friend

By Tom Scanlon, Tori Richards and Frank Girardot Staff Writers

O.J. SImpson took off on the longest, most dangerous run of his life before being arrested on murder charges last night.

"O.J. Simpson is in custody," said LAPD Cmdr. David Gascon at a 10 p.m. news conference. "He is being booked and processed."

The double murder defendant -- called a "fallen American hero" by the man in charge of prosecuting him was arrested at his Brentwood home after a 60-mile 90-minute police chase. The chase began in Orange County and crossed much of Los Angeles with Simpson, 46, keeping police away by pointing a gun to his head.

The 8:50 p.m. arrest of Simpson, accused of killing his ex-wife and her male friend capped a bizarre day that included a bomb scare, fears that Simpson would kill himself, a mysterious 911 call to the home of murdered Nicole Brown Simpson, pleas by officials to have Simpson turn himself in, a police force on the defensive and a public reading of an emotional note from Simpson.

The former USC and National Football League star running back had eluded police since 11 a.m. when he was suppossed to turn himself in.

The question of the day was "Where's O.J.?" For most of the day the Los Angeles Police Department had no answer.

He was considered armed and dangerous, and after he was finally arrested, a gun was recovered from the cat that led police on a chase watched by much of the country.

Simpson was carrying photos of Nicole Simpson and their daughter when he was arrested. Gascon said SImpson would be taken to the Men's Central Jail. He probably will be held there -- perhaps under a suicide watch -- until Monday, when he is likely to ... 

This from Brian Day:

It begins like a joke.,..two guys walk into a bank ...and hilarity ensues... Sadly ending in a high speed crash on a residential street.

Police responded to a report of a robbery in the parking lot of B of A on Azusa Avenue in Hacienda Heights.

No one knows what happened next or at least between the two men, but both men claimed the other tried to rob him. When cops arrived one of the men fled across the street into a neighborhood and hid on a rooftop. He was found and arrested pretty quick.

The other guy jumped into a '80s Oldsmobile and sped off from the bank parking lot at high speed. Cops called for a helicopter and chased the old Olds on Wedgeworth Drive where it crashed into a parked Toyota.... (BTW this is pretty close to Monday's copper theft from the Little League) and pursuit went near Wilson High and an elementary school.... 

LAPD chased this guy into Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera and Whittier before he was caught. Apprently the suspect was wanted for a DUI.

Reporter Brian Day's story on Tuesday's officer involved shooting in Covina has the first actual quotes by representatives of Glenn Patrick Rose's family.

Here's the story top:

COVINA - Details continue to emerge about a fatal officer-involved shooting earlier this week and the local man who was killed.

The driver, Glenn Patrick Rose, 25, was shot to death by police. Rose and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Sarah Morales, were both zapped with a Taser prior to the shooting and Rose had been convicted twice before of fleeing police, according to police and court documents.

Rose and Morales were inside an allegedly stolen pickup truck when he rammed a car being used for cover by a sheriff's deputy and a California Highway Patrol officer, said sheriff's Lt. Dan Coleman.

Records show that Rose was convicted of evading police in July 2001 and May 2002. He had also been found guilty of grand theft and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.

Brian Claypool and Eric Maier, attorneys representing Rose's family, said Rose had no history of violent crime and that the 6- and 7-year-old convictions only bolster their belief that he was merely trying to evade officials, not attack them.

"When the officers opened fire, they didn't know that (Rose had a criminal record)," Claypool said, adding that past deeds do not excuse bad decisions made by officials.

"He was really doing a lot to change his life," Claypool added. "He was really working hard."

Though Rose had a drug problem in the past, he had been sober for more than four years, Claypool said.

After two days of intensive reporting Brian Day is set to report several new revelations that have emerged from his investigation into the slaying of Glenn Patrick Rose.

Among those revelations, Rose had been Tasered prior to an officer involved shooting that led to his death. Additionally he had been convicted of participating in at least two police pursuits in 2001 and 2002.

On Tuesday morning, Rose was shot to death by deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and officers from the California Highway Patrol. The shooting occurred after Rose led officers on a high speed pursuit from Walnut through West Covina.

Rose, a woman who was riding in the car with him, and the officers ended up in a Covina alleyway near First and Puente avenues in Covina.

Once there, officers said Rose attempted to steal another car before attempting to run them down.

As many as 15 shots were fired and Rose was killed.

Here's the new information:

• Rose was Tasered before he was shot, according to an autopsy performed by the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.
• Rose had a criminal record in Los Angeles County that included convictions for fleeing officers in 2001 and 2002. His record also included convictions for grand theft and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.
• An attorney hired by Rose's family to possibly file a wrongful death lawsuit against the county told Day in an interview Friday he was unaware of convictions, but believes it bolsters his case; as Rose was never charged with violent crimes stemming from previous pursuits.
• Rose's family and friends as well as the attorney told also told reporter Day that Rose, who previously had a substance abuse problem, had turned his life around and was attending a 12-step program.
• Rose's girlfriend Sarah Rebecca Morales remains in custody for her role in the pursuit. She is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Much of this continues to be debated in a Topix forum that's been pretty heated.

As a sample, here's an anonymous comment from a person identified as a friend of both Rose and Morales:

 I knew Sarah and Patrick very well. I was in sober living with Patrick and knew Sarah from her job at Alpha Omega. She was and is a sweet young lady. It is so sad to see what the drugs and alcohol do to us and how we turn into a totally different person once we are on them. I am in recovery and have been sober for four years. I know the strugles of staying clean and sober. I relapsed many times befor I got the four years I have today. The one thing that AA tell us is,(If we do not stop doing the drugs and drinking and work the Spiritual Program put befor us, that we are doomed to Jails, Institutions or Death. It is just really sad and ashame that Patrick had to draw the death card, because when he was sober he was a very good person and helped many.) I have seen so many guys that I care about and that have been through the sober living that I went through and managed go back to prison and institutions that it really hurts. But, Sarah and all of the men that have had to go to jail or back to prison are the lucky ones, because they can resume there lives once they have served there time,

The death of Glenn Patrick Rose following a pursuit that ended in a hail of gunfire in a Covina alley is generating a lot of comment from friends and family in a Topix discussion of Amanda Baumfeld's story.

Here's a sample comment from someone identified as JoJo of Covina:

Those of us that knew Patrick know what cause's this type of behavior. Those of you that were close to him know exactly what I'm saying.

Several other commenters have taken up a defense of Rose on the site.

Meanwhile, Rose's girlfriend Sarah Rebecca Morales, 24, of Pomona was arraigned Thursday on three counts of assault on a police officer or firefighter and two counts of taking or driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.

She's being held in lieu of $60,000 bail at the same Lynwood facility that housed Paris Hilton last summer, according to the sheriff's inmate locator.

BTW, here's a link to the Trib's discussion forum, which is hosted by Topix.

I don't know how we missed this, but here's a Pasadena item from Discovery News that ran in November but's sort of related to a story from earlier this week. Of course the Chippies didn't need any fancy stuff, all it took was the suspect ramming his Nissan Titan into a mountainside at 70 mph. The item begins below:

Nov. 29, 2007 -- The same microwave radiation that reheats pizza can be used to fry the electrical systems in cars, stopping them dead in their tracks.

Emitted from a rooftop device, the radiation could be used by law enforcement officers to put an end to dangerous car chases or by military personnel as a non-lethal way of disabling vehicles that get too close for comfort.

"The idea is to warn an automobile some distance away from a high-value target like a military barrack or a communication center. If they don't comply, you just zap them and it prevents them from coming closer," said James Tatoian, CEO of Eureka Aerospace in Pasadena, Calif.

Yesterday I speculated that Ruben Smith, the Azusa man who led police on a wild chase across the San Gabriel Valley, was a pool man.

Guess what? Ruben Smith is a pool man.

That stuff in the back of his truck is chemicals and tools used to clean pools.