SAN DIEGO — A police chase that started in Orange County ended in someone’s Linda Vista yard in San Diego.
California Highway Patrol officials said 47-year-old Alfredo Estrada from Santa Ana was arrested after he led law enforcement on a multi-county pursuit in a stolen Cadillac SUV. According to Salvador Castro with CHP, officers deployed a spike strike that caused the Cadillac to veer off the roadway and crash into a tree.
Estrada fled on foot, Castro said, which led CHP and San Diego County Sheriff's K-9 unit on a foot pursuit before he was arrested, taken to a hospital, and booked into San Diego County Jail.
Herbert, a Linda Vista neighbor, says he and his wife were watching television when they heard the commotion outside.
“All we heard was a swoosh," he said. "He tore the plant that was right there. It was huge. Just drove right through it.”
Herbert and other neighbors came to watch a tow truck pull the Cadillac out from the yard where it was dangerously close to slipping down a steep embankment. They say they heard helicopters circling overhead and sirens blaring through their neighborhood shortly before dark.
Sue, another resident of the area, says she was barbequing in her backyard.
“The sirens were super close. I didn't know quite what was going on until I looked over our patio there," she said. "He was circling our cul de sac. He was going very fast and that's what was worrisome, was him hitting a building or crashing into a couple of parked cars or people.”
CHP officials say the driver came south on Interstate 5 from Orange County through Del Mar then onto Interstate 805. The CBS 8 chopper followed the Cadillac as it made its way through Kearny Mesa, Serra Mesa, and eventually circled the Linda Vista neighborhood.
“He had no idea what the streets were like back here and there are not a lot of outlets," Sue said. "He was trying to find an outlet to get back down to Fashion Hills Boulevard and he wasn't going to make it.”
Herbert agrees.
“When he went through here I don't think he realized there was a dip right there really," he said. "And so the car ended up out there.”
Once the car plowed into the yard, through a bush and got stuck, the driver jumped out and took off on foot. At one point, the man tumbled down the steep hill but he jumped up and kept running. Officers finally caught the man and arrested him.
Herbert says, “I’m glad that the guy, they say he just stole the car and the police, they’re not looking for a murderer or something like that.”
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