Man Arrested After Leading Authorities on 4 hour Chase (KTLA News / February 28, 2011) |
LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- A motorist led police and CHP officers on a bizarre four-hour pursuit that ended with the man being Tasered in a bathrobe in a parking lot in San Dimas.
The 200-mile chase across Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties began about 2 p.m. Monday on the 5 Freeway in Castaic, when the driver refused to pull over for allegedly speeding.
The man, identified as Daniel Wachter, then led police on a pursuit that crisscrossed several Southern California freeways.
California Highway Patrol officers tried to end things quickly at first, attempting a pit maneuver and then laying down a spike strip, which Wachter managed to avoid.
An hour later, CHP officers backed off, citing public safety issues.
That's when things took a bizarre twist, with Wachter pulling into a motel parking lot. He eventually left the motel, and then stopped again a short time later at a gas station in Redlands.
Wachter got back onto the 10 Freeway, then exited the freeway again, for the final time, in San Dimas. It was there that he got out of his car and started running.
Eventually, an officer fired a Taser at him, causing him to fall to the ground.
"We gave him several verbal commands to get down, to stop, [and] he just kept walking, ignored our commands," CHP Officer Edmund Zorrilla told KTLA. "We believed we saw a weapon in his left hand. We then, I then, Tased the suspect from behind and he went down on the floor."
KTLA caught up with the suspect as he was being taken away in the patrol car.
Wachter wouldn't say why he ignored the CHP, only saying where he was heading.
"I was trying to go to my sister's house," he told KTLA, "I was driving for a while." When asked where his sister's house was, he responded, "I think it's either Riverside or Santa Cruz."
Police say they think Wachter may have been driving under the influence of marijuana.
He was taken to a hospital for observation Monday night.
No word yet on what charges he is facing.
The 200-mile chase across Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties began about 2 p.m. Monday on the 5 Freeway in Castaic, when the driver refused to pull over for allegedly speeding.
The man, identified as Daniel Wachter, then led police on a pursuit that crisscrossed several Southern California freeways.
California Highway Patrol officers tried to end things quickly at first, attempting a pit maneuver and then laying down a spike strip, which Wachter managed to avoid.
An hour later, CHP officers backed off, citing public safety issues.
That's when things took a bizarre twist, with Wachter pulling into a motel parking lot. He eventually left the motel, and then stopped again a short time later at a gas station in Redlands.
Wachter got back onto the 10 Freeway, then exited the freeway again, for the final time, in San Dimas. It was there that he got out of his car and started running.
Eventually, an officer fired a Taser at him, causing him to fall to the ground.
"We gave him several verbal commands to get down, to stop, [and] he just kept walking, ignored our commands," CHP Officer Edmund Zorrilla told KTLA. "We believed we saw a weapon in his left hand. We then, I then, Tased the suspect from behind and he went down on the floor."
KTLA caught up with the suspect as he was being taken away in the patrol car.
Wachter wouldn't say why he ignored the CHP, only saying where he was heading.
"I was trying to go to my sister's house," he told KTLA, "I was driving for a while." When asked where his sister's house was, he responded, "I think it's either Riverside or Santa Cruz."
Police say they think Wachter may have been driving under the influence of marijuana.
He was taken to a hospital for observation Monday night.
No word yet on what charges he is facing.
