A pair of suspected serial burglars led authorities on a road chase from Oceanside to San Juan Capistrano early Monday in a futile attempt to evade arrest.
Investigators believe that Alexander Carter and Jayvonta Antonio Lewis are responsible for at least five Oceanside burglaries in which access was gained via smashed windows, said Oceanside Police spokesman Ryan Keim.
The suspects also may have been involved in more than a dozen other break-ins across the county, Keim said.
The Long Beach residents, both 23, sped off in a white late-model Honda Civic shortly after 3 a.m. when a patrol officer tried to contact them outside a North Cleveland Street market with a shattered front glass door, Leim said.
Officers followed the fleeing men over city streets and onto southbound Interstate 5. Reaching Manchester Avenue in Encinitas, the suspects exited and then re-entered the freeway, this time headed north, Keim said.
The California Highway Patrol took over the pursuit near Harbor Drive in Oceanside and pursued the Civic into Orange County. Near state Route 74, officers used a spike strip to flatten the tires of the car, but the suspects kept fleeing for several more miles before finally pulling over.
Officers immediately arrested one of the men and captured the other following a brief foot chase. The pair was booked into Vista Detention Facility on suspicion of burglary, vandalism, conspiracy and evading police, with arraignment scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
— City News Service