Two men accused of stealing baby formula led law enforcement officers on a freeway chase from Rancho Cucamonga to Corona Saturday, June 22.
The chase, which began on Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County, ended on 6th Street in downtown Corona, where a California Highway Patrol car performed a pit maneuver and the Chevy Suburban flipped on its left side on a road median.
At least three times during the chase the fleeing suspects tried to ram pursuing officers’ cars, San Bernardino County sheriff’s Deputy Chris Henry said. No one was hurt and the two suspects surrendered without incident. The chase ended about 5:15 p.m.
“It worked out perfect,” Henry said of the pit maneuver, in which a police car taps the back of a vehicle it is pursuing, usually when a chase slows, in order to make the vehicle spin out. “Nobody got hurt and the two bad guys are going to jail.”
Henry said authorities received a call from private security guards at a Walmart on Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga. The guards told sheriff’s deputies that the two men had taken “a large quantity” of baby formula out of the store.
Henry said he was not sure how much formula had been taken, but he believes it was worth several hundred dollars.
Security guards followed the men and sheriff’s deputies caught up with them on northbound Interstate 15 near the 210 freeway. The police chase then moved north to Sierra Avenue, where the Suburban got off the freeway and then got back on in the southbound lanes.
CHP officers took over the lead in the chase as it passed into Riverside County. At one point at least six cars were involved in the chase.
The Suburban got off the freeway and turned onto 6th Street near Highway 91 in Corona, where Corona police provided traffic control.
