Crime & Safety
Armed, Suspected Drunken Driver Arrested in Commerce After Hours-Long Standoff with Police
After a short pursuit, the man abandoned his car and holed up inside a business for eight hours before surrendering to police.
COMMERCE, CA — A suspected drunken driver pulled a gun on CHP officers as he abandoned his pickup truck on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Commerce, backed into some roadside businesses, and held officers off for eight hours before surrendering.
The man was arrested by SWAT team members at about 8:30 a.m., according to Deputy Guillermina Saldana of the Sheriff's Information Bureau.
The pursuit began before 9 p.m. Sunday in Orange County, when California Highway Patrol officers attempted to pull over a green GMC pickup truck for swerving and possible drunken driving, CHP Officer Francisco Villalobos said.
Find out what's happening in South Gate-Lynwoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Los Angeles-based CHP officers took over the pursuit at 9 p.m. Sunday on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway as the truck left Orange County. It veered off the freeway at Garfield Avenue in Commerce, Villalobos said.
The northbound and southbound lanes of the 5 Freeway were shut down at 12:45 a.m., Villalobos said. The northbound lanes were opened at 1:30 a.m. and the southbound lanes followed at 2:21 a.m.
Find out what's happening in South Gate-Lynwoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Television journalists captured video of the man — shirtless, tattooed and waving a pistol — backing into an industrial area.
Deputies from the East Los Angeles Sheriff's Station were called to the scene at midnight, said sheriff's Sgt. T. Kim. Attempts had been made to contact the suspect.
The sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau was dispatched to the scene about 3 a.m., Saldana said.
— City News Service, photo courtesy of the LASD SEB
