3 Hospitalized After Car Chase Ends In Head-On Crash In Santa Ana
SANTA ANA (CBS) — Three people were hospitalized following a police pursuit that ended in a head-on crash.
Police were chasing a black Escalade with two suspects inside on McFadden Avenue just after 11 a.m. when the car passed the riverbed and swerved into eastbound lanes. The SUV slammed into a silver car head-on at McFadden and Susan Street, about a block from Russell Elementary School, Santa Ana police Corporal Anthony Bertagna said.
Two suspects were trapped in the SUV and had to be extricated by firefighters.
Money was removed from the crime scene and Bertagna said one of the suspects was seen throwing a bag of drugs out of the SUV before they crashed.
KNX 1070's Mike Landa reports one witness saw the spinning SUV hit his pickup truck, causing only minor damage, but a little too much excitement.
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"Too close for comfort," the man said. "I don't mind reading about it or watching it on TV, but I don't want any part of it."
Bertagna said officers saw the Escalade and thought it was suspicious. When the suspects saw the officers, they took off, he said.
The driver of the Escalade was later identified as 28-year-old Raymundo Pineda Allquisran of Huntington Beach. Allquisran, who suffered a dislocated shoulder, had two outstanding DUI warrants and was driving on a suspended license. After he was medically cleared, he was booked on suspicion of felony evading, possession for sales of rock cocaine, transportation for sales of drugs and felony drunken driving, Bertagna said.
Allquisran's passenger, 54-year-old Sandy Patterson of Santa Ana, suffered a broken ankle in the crash and was arrested on the same charges, minus the DUI, Bertagna said.
The silver car's driver, a 41-year-old Placentia man, suffered a dislocated hip and broken right leg, Bertagna said.
