Authorities Chase Suspect from Santee to Clairemont Mesa

A driver who refused to yield to members of a fugitive task force on an East County street led officers on a nearly hour-long pursuit that ended with him and a passenger arrested at gunpoint in Kearny Mesa, authorities reported.

The chase began in the area of Cuyamaca Street in Santee shortly before 11 a.m., sheriff's Lt. Jim Duffy said. The driver sped off from the fugitive team, fleeing to the west on Interstate 8 into San Diego as police from that city and California Highway Patrol personnel joined in the pursuit, according to Duffy.

The suspect proceeded to criss-cross erratically through Linda Vista and Serra Mesa, running stoplights near Juvenile Hall, at times driving the wrong way in traffic lanes and cutting through a parking lot at Rady Children's Hospital.

About 12:45 p.m., the fleeing driver finally pulled over in the area of
Clairemont Mesa and Murphy Canyon roads, Duffy said. The suspect put his hands out the driver's side window, got out of the vehicle with his hands over his
head and lay down on the roadway, where CHP personnel handcuffed him.

The passenger then was taken into custody, after which officers sent a service dog through the SUV to search for contraband.

It was unclear why the task force tried to pull over the vehicle in the first place, and the suspects' names were not immediately available.

-City News Service