A man was arrested in Kearny Mesa Tuesday after leading officers on a slow-speed pursuit from east San Diego while on the phone with dispatchers, the San Diego Police Department said.
SDPD attempted to pull over a black SUV for an "equipment violation" near state Route 94 and Euclid Avenue but the driver did not stop, SDPD Lt. Christian Sharp said.
The driver, a man in his 40s, merged onto the freeway with officers in pursuit but, in part because of traffic, the chase did not reach speeds higher than 40 miles per hour, SDPD said.
"We tried to keep the public back during this pursuit, just because we didn’t know how this person was going to react. Initially, yeah, the traffic kept speeds down," Sharp said.
During the pursuit, the driver was on the phone with an SDPD dispatcher claiming he was suffering from a "medical emergency," according to the department.
The driver merged onto I-15 and continued northbound until eventually coming to a stop on the offramp of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. Sharp said if the driver continued northbound, he would have hit spike strips deployed by the department.
"Once the vehicle came to a stop, we deployed spike strips again just in case he changed his mind and wanted to take off on us again," Sharp said.
Local
The driver, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, at first refused to get out of the SUV but eventually surrendered to officers, Sharp said. He and a woman who was riding in the passenger seat were taken into SDPD custody.
Though neither were injured, both the driver and passenger were taken to a nearby hospital for a medical evaluation and would then be booked into San Diego County Jail.
The driver faces charges stemming from the pursuit and charges from outstanding arrest warrants of more than $100,000. The woman also faces charges from outstanding arrest warrants, Sharp said.
SDPD blocked the offramp for about an hour while working to detain the suspect.
No other information was available.
Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.
