Theft Suspect Fleeing Police on Foot Is Hit on Freeway

LA PALMA — A Rosemead man, fleeing from police, jumped out of a moving pickup truck that he was suspected of stealing and was struck by a car Wednesday when he attempted to run across the busy Long Beach Freeway in Compton, authorities said.

Manuel Gutierrez, 22, sustained a broken arm, numerous cuts and other injuries as he tried to elude police, a La Palma police spokesman said. Gutierrez, who was initially taken to the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, has since been transferred to the Orange County Jail ward of United Western Medical Center-Anaheim. He is being held on suspicion of auto theft and possession of stolen property.

La Palma Police Sgt. Jeff Kirkpatrick said the incident began around 4.10 a.m. when La Palma resident Delores Martinez reported that someone had stolen her 1975 Ford pickup, which had been parked in front of her home.

Officer Jim Enright spotted the vehicle and followed it until it reached the Long Beach Freeway in Compton. He and other officers attempted to stop the truck at Alondra Boulevard. But Gutierrez slowed to about 25 m.p.h. and jumped from the vehicle, Kirkpatrick said.

Kirkpatrick said Gutierrez bumped into the side of Enright’s police car, then ran across the northbound lanes and was attempting to weave through traffic in the southbound lanes when he was struck by the car. Only Gutierrez was injured.

“It played out like a TV show,” said Sgt. Jim Wells. “The suspect jumped out of the vehicle, was hit by a car and only suffered a broken arm. That only happens on TV.”

The truck traveled for half a mile without a driver before it ran into a ditch off the right shoulder of freeway.