A grand theft suspect died after crashing a sedan into a building Wednesday during a police pursuit through the Inland Empire, during which law enforcement attempted to “grapple” his car, authorities announced.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said the suspect likely diedfrom a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Authorities have not identified the driver or provided any additional details, including their age.
The department did not immediately respond to an email requesting additional comment.
The suspect had evaded law enforcement for more than an hour, at times stopping, after deputies from the Jurupa Valley station tried to make a traffic stop, according to the Sheriff’s Department . Deputies were told that the suspect was armed.
Just before 3:30 p.m., a Riverside Sheriff’s K-9 unit sped up behind the fleeing suspect’s vehicle in Jurupa Valley and deployed the grappler, a netting system that works by entangling around the back wheels and axles and is intended to slow a vehicle to a halt.
After a first unsuccessful attempt, the police SUV again pulled within feet of the vehicle as it appeared to deploy the grappler.
However, the system did not stop the fleeing suspect, who spun out of control after being tapped by the grappler, and crossed three lanes of traffic before crashing into a wall on Antigua Drive, according to television footage. The sheriff’s deputy in pursuit also lost control of that vehicle, but did not crash.
The suspect initially survived the crash and refused to exit his vehicle and the Riverside Sheriff’s crisis negotiation team responded to the incident, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Various deputies tried to extract the suspect, including breaking windows and tossing multiple rounds of a substance, as could be seen on television footage.
The deputies dragged the lifeless suspect out of the vehicle.
Deputies reported they first spotted the suspect just after 2 p.m. near Pat’s Ranch Road and Limonite Avenue in Jurupa Valley.
The suspect escaped an initial approach from the deputies before they caught up with him at Limonite Avenue and Van Buren Boulevard.
They attempted to stop the suspect, but he sped away, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The suspect continued to drive throughout the city, eventually stopping in front of Jurupa Valley High School. The secondary school was briefly placed on lockdown before the pursuit continued.
The grappler system was invented by a Peoria, Ariz., entrepreneur and was first employed by the Phoenix Police Department.
The Riverside Sheriff’s Department is the first to use the device in California, Riverside County Sheriff’s Lt. Jason Santistevan informed The Times in an earlier interview.
The system has been installed on sheriff’s K-9 units — 10 are in use with that number expected to rise to 16 by the end of July, Santistevan said.
The post ‘Grappler’ deployed in high-speed pursuit through Inland Empire that ended in crash, possible suicide appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
