Suspect Critically Injured Running from Torrance Police at High School

Police today arrested three people for their alleged involvement in burglarizing a vending machine at West High School in Torrance, including a man who ran from officers and was critically injured in a 13-foot fall when he jumped over a fence on the campus.

The crime occurred about 3:35 a.m. at the school at 20401 Victor St., said Torrance police Sgt. Robert Watt.

Paramedics took the injured man to a hospital for treatment of a head injury, Watt said. Police did not immediately release the Torrance resident’s name or identify the other suspects, a Wilmington man and a Carson woman.

All three will face probable charges of commercial burglary, Watt said, adding that about $100 was taken from the vending machine.

A school employee on the campus saw two men trying to break into a vending machine, and called police, Watt said.

Arriving officers saw the two men and when they chased after the suspects, one of them jumped over a fence about three feet high on the west side of the campus near Henrietta Street, Watt said. The man suffered “major head trauma” resulting from a 13-foot drop onto pavement on the other side of the fence, the sergeant said.

“It appears that he was not familiar with the campus,” Watt said.

The other man was arrested within a short period of time, and police arrested the woman who was also on the campus, Watt said.

--City News Service

PHOTO Patch file photo.

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