Suspect Escapes After High-Speed Chase Around South Bay, San Diego

An auto theft suspect led authorities on a meandering road chase Thursday that began in Coronado, winded through Imperial Beach, traversed the South Bay and wound up in San Diego, where the fleeing driver and a passenger managed to escape on foot.

The high-speed pursuit started just before 7:30 a.m. in a parking lot just north of Imperial Beach that overlooks the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, said Coronado police Cmdr. Mike Lawton.

A license plate scanner alerted an officer to a parked, white Honda Civic with a man and woman inside, he said. When the officer and a sheriff's deputy approached the car, which had been reported stolen, the male driver sped away.

The driver headed north for about a quarter-mile, then made a U-turn and headed south on State Route 75 toward Imperial Beach, at times reaching speeds of 90-100 mph.

A parked car and deputy's cruiser were hit near the corner of Saturn Boulevard and Palm Avenue in San Diego as the fleeing driver pushed past traffic to get on Interstate 5, said sheriff's Lt. Marco Garmo.

The damaged Civic swerved through rush-hour congestion and into emergency-access lanes as officers tailed it through Chula Vista on I-5, then east on state Route 54 and north again on I-805.

Around 34rd Street in the Lincoln Park area, the fleeing man was able to lose his pursuers. The California Highway Patrol, however, tracked his route via freeway cameras. The suspect soon merged onto  I-15 and continued to the north for several miles before exiting at El Cajon Boulevard.

About 8 a.m., a San Diego police officer found the Honda abandoned at an apartment complex in the 4300 block of 34th Street. The suspect and his companion remained at large this afternoon.

No description of the suspect is available at this time, Garmo said.

City News Service contributed to this report.