A motorist who drove off after his truck hit a pedestrian in Egger Highlands Thursday afternoon fled for a second time when officers tried to pull him over minutes later, prompting a lengthy pursuit that ended with the suspect’s arrest in Logan Heights.
The hit-and-run crash occurred shortly after 2 p.m. at Coronado and Thermal avenues, near Imperial Beach, according to San Diego police. Medics took the victim to UCSD Medical Center for treatment of injuries of undisclosed severity.
A short time later, patrol personnel spotted the suspect’s brown pickup in the area of Donax Avenue and Saturn Boulevard in Nestor and tried to pull him over, Officer Frank Cali said. Refusing to yield, the driver fled to the north and west and entered northbound Interstate 5, he said.
Officers chased the truck through Chula Vista and National City and into Southcrest, where the suspect merged onto and quickly exited state Route 15 before crisscrossing various neighborhoods via city streets, Cali said.
Around Franklin Avenue and South 49th Street in Lincoln Park, the pursuing cruisers were called off for safety reasons. At that point, officers aboard a police helicopter took over tracking the fleeing man’s path from above, Cali said.
Just before 2:30 p.m., the driver pulled over in the 200 block of South Gregory Street, where he was taken into custody. His name was not immediately available.
–City News Service