Exclusive: Innocent woman sideswiped during pursuit in Pomona speaks out
Lillian Steger was on her way to Pomona to pick up her husband from work when a construction truck dragging a road sign trailer pulled up right beside her.
"I look at that video and I go, OMG, my guardian angel has earned their wings 10 times over," said Steger.
Desperate to lose the numerous police cars tailing him, the driver, 32-year-old Freddy Baltazar, sideswiped Steger on the westbound I-10 Freeway at the Towne Avenue off-ramp as he tried to get onto surface streets.
I was thinking about my husband, my granddaughter," she said. "Am I going to die? Is this accident going to do me in?"
Fortunately, Steger came to a stop without being seriously injured.
"I was crying," she remembered. "I was scared. I was having problems breathing."
Ontario and Fontana police were pursuing the armed suspect who reportedly first fled the Claremont area in another stolen vehicle before crashing into a construction truck. Baltazar then jumped out of the original vehicle and carjacked the driver of the truck at gunpoint, shortly before speeding away from police again.
During the pursuit, the truck dragged a sparking trailer as it hit a number of cars, including Steger's, and drove recklessly on the wrong side of the road. It came to an end when an armored SWAT vehicle called a Bearcat came in and pinned the truck to the center divider of the I-10 Freeway. The suspect quickly bailed out and tried to run but a police dog quickly cornered and bit him before he was arrested.
Steger said she is thankful to be alive but said police pursuits compromise public safety.
"They could've went about it a different way, less aggressive," she said. "I think there's definite room for improvement."
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said that in pursuits similar to this it is within their policy for a pilot and their crew on board to use lethal force or shot from their helicopters as last resort. Lethal force was authorized during this pursuit by Fontana police. Ultimately, it was up to the pilot and crew on the helicopter to decide to take that action.
Police did recover a firearm at the scene. Baltazar faces a litany of charges including evading officers, carrying a loaded firearm, carjacking and assault with a deadly weapon.
