Driver leads Chula Vista police on pursuit, escapes

CHULA VISTA

A driver on Monday led Chula Vista police on a pursuit through city streets and a neighborhood park before abandoning the car and escaping, police said.

Police relied on a drone and helicopter to keep sight of the driver, who was behind the wheel of a red Mini Cooper, as he eluded officers on the ground.

Around noon, the Mini Cooper drove in the direction of two men working on an RV on Fifth Avenue near K Street.

The driver yelled at the two men as he drove toward them, then swerved “to the point where they had to get out of the way,” Lt Gino Grippo said.

The men were not hurt. Grippo said police chased the driver in the Mini Cooper, but ultimately backed off because the pursuit turned too dangerous.

Later, the driver returned to the location where he had the close call with the men working on the RV, and he pulled over. He stayed in his car while an officer, with gun drawn, spoke from a distance and tried to persuade him to surrender.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I want to talk to you,” the officer told the driver, according to video from OnScene TV. “I want to get you help. If you let me help you, I promise this will work out. This is a big misunderstanding and we’ll be OK, do you understand?”

When the officer asked the driver to remove the keys from the car’s ignition and hand them over, the driver appeared to comply.

He tossed a set of keys to the officer, but must have had a second set because he drove off again moments later.

Police chose not to give chase. “We felt it was safer not to pursue him,” Grippo said.

They tracked the driver down at Bayside Park, where the Mini Cooper was parked in a stall. Officers surrounded the car, but the man drove forward onto a sidewalk and through the park. Officers used a public announcement system to warn people to get out of the way, Grippo said.

No one was hurt. Officers located the Mini Cooper sometime later on an undisclosed residential street and impounded the car.

The driver, a man believed to be in his 30s, was not found, Grippo said.