High Speed Chases

The Alhambra Police Department became the latest law enforcement agency to become embroiled in the debate over high-speed pursuits Wednesday after one of its patrol cars crashed on a Baldwin Park off-ramp as officers chased a stolen vehicle on the San Bernardino Freeway. The officer lost control of his vehicle and slid into a guardrail on an off-ramp of eastbound Interstate 10 about 2 p.m., said Alhambra police Sgt. Dennis Hamby. He was not hurt.

It all happened in a few moments in the middle of the night. A driver sped away from a Cypress police officer, slammed into a car carrying two young women, and another high-speed pursuit ended in tragedy. Tuesday's fatal incident about 2:30 a.m. in Anaheim raised anew questions about the peril of such chases, which have left at least eight people dead in Orange County over the last year.

Agreeing to hear an appeal from California law enforcement officials, the Supreme Court announced Monday that it will rule on whether police who pursue vehicles at high speeds can be held liable if the suspects are injured or killed. The decision, due early next year, probably will determine the future of high-speed police pursuits. In a sharply disputed ruling, the U.S.

Four people remained hospitalized and a Granada Hills family was in mourning Wednesday as police defended their pursuit of a stolen van, saying the chase conformed to LAPD guidelines despite the crash that resulted. Demonstrating the peril of h Linda Wageman, 44, of Granada Hills, was killed and her daughter Rebecca, 25, was seriously injured when their van was struck broadside by a pair of teenagers being chased by police in Mission Hills.

A 21-year-old Vista man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly attempting to run down an Orange County sheriff's deputy and three other people before leading authorities on a high-speed chase through the city, a sheriff's spokesman said. William Parrott drove his car onto a sidewalk in the 3500 block of South El Camino Real in an attempt to hit a deputy who was interviewing a man and two women who had reported a recent act of vandalism, Sheriff's Lt. Richard Paddock said.

A man suspected of auto theft led police on a 100-mph chase on Interstate 5 and through neighborhood streets before rolling a car down a 150-foot embankment, officials said. No injuries were reported. Lynn Nehring, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, said the chase began about 5:30 p.m. when Laguna Beach police were alerted by a resident who told them he had seen someone driving his stolen car.

A motorcyclist who led police on a wild chase through four cities, ripping through traffic at speeds of up to 125 mph, slammed into a bus Monday afternoon and was seriously injured, authorities said. The pursuit was captured live on TV. It ended after 40 minutes at an Anaheim intersection when the driver, who had weaved around 18-wheelers on the freeway and run red lights at busy intersections, broadsided a bus.

A motorcyclist who led police on a wild chase through four cities, ripping through traffic at speeds up to 125 mph, slammed into a bus Monday afternoon and was seriously injured, authorities said. The pursuit was captured live on TV. It ended after 40 minutes at an Anaheim intersection when the motorcyclist, who had weaved around 18-wheelers on the freeway and run red lights at busy intersections, broadsided a bus.

A motorcyclist who led police on a high-speed freeway chase through four Orange County cities does not appear to be linked to the 1993 shooting death of a Garden Grove police officer, investigators said Tuesday. Monday's chase ended when the motorcyclist, identified by hospital officials as Robert William Broge Jr., skidded into a bus and was seriously injured.

A man was killed early Tuesday in a shootout with two sheriff's deputies and a Los Angeles police officer at the end of a tire-screeching pursuit through the streets of Compton, authorities said. The chase began at 1:40 a.m., when the deputies tried to pull over a speeding gray Chevrolet Monte Carlo with its lights off near Compton Avenue and 105th Street in Watts, said Deputy Mark Bailey. The car raced away, heading south on Compton Avenue, and an LAPD officer joined the pursuit, Bailey said.