No Coffee, No Showers

More than 1,000 residents in the South Bay were without power Friday morning after a police pursuit ended in a crash sending a Chula Vista police officer to a hospital. 

It happened near the intersection of Main Street and Melrose in Chula Vista.

Chula Vista police officers said they were tracking a stolen car through an anti-theft system around 9 p.m. Thursday when the suspects spotted the officers and sped off. A short distance into the chase, the suspect lost control of the vehicle slamming head-on into a police car that was facing the opposite direction.

The officer was pinned inside and had to be extricated from his vehicle before being transported to a nearby hospital.  That officer was reportedly complaining of neck, back and knee pain.

Chula Vista police said the injured officer was on his way home from a meeting when he heard the call over his radio, pulled over and waited, just in case the officers involved in the pursuit needed backup.

The suspect vehicle skidded into a power transformer knocking out power to nearly 6,000 Chula Vista residents.

Police took one suspect into custody at gunpoint immediately after the crash.  Officers said a second suspect tried to run but was arrested with the help of a canine unit.

SDG&E crews worked overnight, trying to restore power to residents. 85 percent of residents who were left without electricity had power back on by 6.30 a.m. but officials with SDG&E said approximately 1,100 customers were still in the dark.

The officer, a 10-year veteran of the CVPD, is doing well and will be released from the hospital, pending a final round of X-rays.

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