A father and son face charges after a police pursuit ended overnight when the stolen vehicle they were riding in flipped and crashed into the living room of an Escondido home.
Homeowner Aaron Todd and his family were sleeping inside their home on Fieldbrook Place north of El Norte Parkway at 11:30 p.m. Sunday.
He said he felt what he thought was an earthquake and then, standing at the top of his stairs, he saw the car crashed into the front of his home.
“It was loud and you could smell the tires. I could hear the guy moaning and you could see him try and come out of the vehicle and into the house,” Todd said.
Not knowing what the man wanted, Todd said the only thing he could think of was getting the man out of his home and away from his kids.
As the driver was fumbling around with the front door, Todd ran to the back of the house and helped the driver escape through the back door.
“I opened the glass door for him just to get him out of the house,” Todd said.
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The driver was found several minutes later on nearby Prairiestone Way with visible head trauma, officers said. He's been identified as Larry Frank Lopez, Sr, 42, of Oceanside.
The passenger, Larry Frank Lopez, Jr, 23, of Oceanside, suffered life-threatening injuries and had to be pulled from the wreckage by emergency crews. He was transported to Palomar Medical Center.
Officers said the two suspects had handguns.
The Toyota 4-Runner was reported as a stolen vehicle in Oceanside six days prior to the crash, according to Escondido Lt. Greg Kogler.
Kogler said when Escondido officers learned the vehicle was stolen, they attempted to stop the driver. That’s when the pursuit began.
Escondido police reported losing sight of the 4-Runner. Twenty minutes later, police found the wreckage of the car.
Todd and his family are living next door right now at his mother-in-law’s house.
