2 arrested after pursuit ends with crash at Long Beach freeway off

An 18-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were arrested Friday morning following a pursuit that began in Seal Beach and ended with a crash on the 405 Freeway off-ramp at Cherry Avenue in Long Beach, according to authorities.

Seal Beach police say their officers were dispatched just before 4 a.m. to the area of 13th Street and Pacific Coast Highway after an automated license plate reader, which collect images of license plates and assign the date, time and geographic location of those vehicles, alerted authorities to a possibly stolen vehicle.

Officers located the vehicle in the area and realized it was being followed by a second vehicle, police said.

With officers following closely behind, both vehicles then turned their headlights off and fled northbound on Seal Beach Boulevard at a high rate of speed, police said.

Authorities subsequently initiated a pursuit, but the drivers of the didn’t stop, police said.

Instead, police said, the suspect vehicles continued traveling northbound on Seal Beach Boulevard, where at times they drove wrong side of the road and nearly caused a crash with a passing car before they made their way onto the northbound 405 Freeway, police said.

There, the pursuing officer was only able to follow one of the vehicles, police said, so the suspect vehicle that alerted the license plate reader that morning was able to flee and was not located, they added.

While attempting to exit the freeway at the Cherry Street off-ramp, the other suspect vehicle crashed into the center median, prompting three suspects to get out and flee on foot, police said.

The pursuing officer also crashed into the center median and chased the suspect on foot before deploying a police service dog onto one of the suspects in the area of Temple Avenue and East Spring Street, police said.

After the suspect allegedly failed to comply with commands and resisted the police service dog, the officer used a Taser on the suspect to take him into custody, police said. Following his arrest, the suspect was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries, police said.

Officers continued to look for the remaining suspects and established a perimeter in area. Eventually, they located a second suspect hiding on top of a Conex box in the area 2600 block of East Spring Street and took him into custody, police said.

The third suspect was not located during the search, though police described him as a male in dark clothing.

Police say the vehicle the suspects were in was determined to have also been stolen.

“While officers were searching for the outstanding suspects, the registered owner reported the vehicle stolen to Long Beach PD,” authorities said.

The 18-year-old was identified by police as Norwalk resident Jesse Amador. He was taken into custody on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, evading police, and resisting arrest, police said.

The 15-year-old, who was not identified because he is a minor, was released to his parents after being taken into custody and charges are pending, police said.

No injuries were reported to officers or the public during the chase, police said. The CHP is investigating the suspect vehicle crash while the LBPD is investigating the officer’s crash, according to authorities.