El Centro, California - Yesterday June 3, 2019, at about just after noon (12:12 pm), El Centro Police Department dispatch advised patrol vehicles of a hit they received on a stolen vehicle. The hit was derived from regional Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) program which sends automatic alerts into the El Centro Police Department Communications Center. The vehicle information indicated the stolen car was a 1999, Honda, Civic and was northbound on Imperial Avenue.

The vehicle was located driving north on Imperial approaching Scott. The vehicle pulled over on Scott just west Imperial as patrol officers positioned for a felony stop. After appearing they were going to comply, the vehicle sped away from the traffic stop and officers followed in pursuit. The vehicle traversed surface/residential streets before returning to the Imperial avenue now going south. At this point the driver appeared to intentionally ram two cars waiting for their turn; the suspect struck a sedan and another SUV in order to make room to continue their attempt to evade officers. The driver continued the pursuit onto Adams Avenue and later La Brucherie at a high rate of speed. The vehicle continued southbound on La Brucherie and out of the city of El Centro before turning eastbound on Highway 98 toward Calexico. Due to the reckless nature of the driver’s actions, the potential additional risks weighed as the pursuit headed into the City of Calexico, the decision was made by the supervisor to terminate the pursuit of the vehicle. The vehicle continued into the City of Calexico. Allied agencies were notified and at about 1:12 p.m., Officers from the Calexico Police were able to locate the vehicle and recover it. The driver, described as a Hispanic male adult and a Hispanic male juvenile passenger were lot located. Thankfully no injuries occurred during the pursuit and the property damage was the two vehicles struck by the fleeing vehicle.

These cases start as simple stolen property crimes but the decision of the driver to evade officers not only endanger themselves but the general public and elevate their potential for additional more serious criminal charges. Many of these types of events end in tragedy which could have been avoided.

If anyone has information regarding the possible identity of the suspect(s) in this case, we ask that you contact the El Centro Police Department.