SAN DIEGO — A 42-year-old man was behind bars Tuesday morning after allegedly leading authorities on a pursuit in a stolen vehicle that ended in a standoff on Interstate 15 in the City Heights area.
The incident began around 10 p.m. Monday when California Highway Patrol officers were sent to investigate a reported hit-and-run crash on southbound Interstate 5 near La Costa Avenue in Carlsbad.
Officers learned the truck involved in the crash was reported stolen out of La Habra in Los Angeles County and the truck's driver had fled the scene on foot, San Diego County Sheriff's Sgt. Daniel Wilson said.
The CHP contacted the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to assist with the search.
Deputies were unable to find the driver, but they remained in the area and spotted a Chrysler minivan a short time later being driven at a high speed without its headlights on, Wilson said. Deputies followed the minivan onto southbound I-5.
Around the same time, dispatchers received a call from a person who reported that a man had broken into their home, then threatened the victim and demanded his car keys, Wilson said. The victim gave the man his keys and the thief drove away in the Chrysler minivan that deputies spotted in the area.
CHP took over the pursuit around 11 p.m. on southbound I-5 and followed the minivan driver onto southbound Interstate 805, CHP Officer Jim Bettencourt said.
The minivan made its way onto northbound Interstate 15, then the driver stopped in lanes near the El Cajon Boulevard exit and refused to get out of the van, Wilson said.
Deputies shot out the driver's side windows, then sent a sheriff's K-9 to help authorities take the driver into custody. The driver tried to get the dog to release his grip by hitting him with an umbrella but the dog held on to his arm. The sheriff’s K-9 was not injured.
The driver, later identified as 42-year-old Daniel Medina, was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of felony evading, resisting arrest and attempting to harm a police dog as well as misdemeanor counts of DUI and resisting an officer, according to jail records.
He is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail pending his arraignment, scheduled for Friday afternoon.