A man jumped into the Huntington Harbour waters on Friday, March 21, trying to evade police after crashing a stolen Toyota Prius in Sunset Beach, authorities said.
Just before 10:30 a.m., police located a stolen white Prius in Newport Beach traveling northbound on Pacific Coast Highway into Huntington Beach, according to a Huntington Beach Police Facebook post.
Police noticed the white Prius was driving in tandem with a gray Prius. After both drivers failed to yield to police, a pursuit began.
The driver of the white Prius lost control while turning right onto Fifth Street in downtown Huntington Beach and crashed into a planter.
The woman tried to run away, and discarded drugs and a gun, police said. A good Samaritan tackled her, which led to her arrest
Meanwhile, officers continued pursuing the gray Prius on PCH. They successfully set up a spike strip at PCH and Warner Avenue. The vehicle slowed and crashed into a structure near PCH and Park Avenue in the Sunset Beach area.
A witness interviewed by KTLA said he heard the crash and saw the aftermath as he left a 7-Eleven with an energy drink in hand.
” … And then the guy jumped out of the car like Jason Bourne and ran down the street,” the witness said. When there didn’t seem to be anywhere the man could go, he added, “Sure enough, he jumped into the water, and lifeguards were pulling up and there’s, like, people on the boats looking for the guy … it was just crazy, man.”
Huntington Beach Marine Safety, California State Parks, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department assisted in the arrest, police said. A gun was found near the scene, they added.
Both drivers of the two Priuses are in custody. It was later discovered that the gray Prius was also stolen, police said.
