Driver escapes after hourlong police pursuit

CHULA VISTA

A driver fled from police Wednesday evening in Chula Vista, led law enforcement officers on a pursuit for more than an hour and then evaded capture after running inside an apartment complex in San Diego’s Grantville neighborhood, authorities said.

The incident began around 4:15 p.m. when Chula Vista officers attempted to stop a gray 2015 Jeep Patriot on Yanonali Avenue, in a residential neighborhood near Olympic Parkway and Heritage Road in the Otay Mesa area, Chula Vista police Lt. Dan Peak said in a news release.

The Jeep’s driver stopped the SUV and got out, but the passenger moved to the driver’s seat and took off, Peak said.

He also said that the man who fled “was wanted for several domestic violence related offenses and child abuse involving an 8month-old child.”

Footage from 10News showed the man initially driving away from officers slowly, at one point stopping in the middle of a roadway to stick his head and arms out of the window and speak with the officers who had stopped behind him. After about two minutes of conversation with officers he drove off, ultimately heading north on Interstate 805.

California Highway Patrol officers joined the pursuit as the driver led officers north on I-805 into San Diego.

The 10News helicopter footage showed the driver exit the freeway at Mesa College Drive, then get on nearby state Route 163 heading south.

From there, the driver exited the freeway again and drove through San Diego’s Birdland neighborhood.

San Diego police joined the pursuit, but around 5:20 p.m., as the fleeing man began driving the wrong way on busy surface streets toward nearby Mesa College in Clairemont, the chase was called off, according to police radio traffic. A police helicopter — and the television news helicopter — continued tracking the man as he drove through Clairemont surface streets.

Police vehicles began following him again — this time with lights and sirens deactivated — as he drove through Clairemont, Kearny Mesa and Tierrasanta, hitting dead ends on Santo and Murphy Canyon roads, before driving a short distance on Interstate 15 into Mission Valley and then into the Grantville neighborhood of San Diego.

Just before 5:55 p.m., he parked the Jeep at a large apartment complex between I-15 and Admiral Baker Golf Course and ran inside one of the buildings, according to the helicopter footage.

Peak, the Chula Vista lieutenant, said officers searched the complex but did not locate the man.

Anyone with information about the driver’s whereabouts is asked to call the Chula Vista Police Department at (619) 691-5151 or San Diego County Crime Stoppers’ anonymous tip line at (858) 5808477.