2 O.C. Men Arrested in Burglary Probe After Car Chase

SANTA ANA — Two Santa Ana men were arrested Sunday night in connection with 13 commercial burglaries after leading police on an eight-minute chase through the streets of Irvine and Santa Ana and ramming a police car on the northbound lanes of the Costa Mesa Freeway.

Vincent Tapia, 19, a passenger in the fleeing 1985 red Mustang, was arrested after he jumped from the moving vehicle in Santa Ana, said Irvine police Sgt. Craig Smith. The driver, Keith Patrick O’Brian, 24, was apprehended moments later, when the car came to a stop at Santa Fe and 2nd streets.

The pursuit began in Irvine about 6:50 p.m. near Deere and Red Hill avenues when an Irvine patrol officer recognized the Mustang as one that had been used in a series of burglaries of Price Clubs and Sam’s Clubs in Yorba Linda, Fountain Valley and Irvine.

During the pursuit, which involved units from the Santa Ana Police Department and a Newport Beach Police Department helicopter, O’Brian allegedly spun the Mustang around while traveling north on the Costa Mesa Freeway near the Edinger Avenue off-ramp and rammed at least one pursuing vehicle. He then exited the freeway.

Neither man was armed. They were arrested on suspicion of felony evasion, commercial burglary and assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer. O’Brian also was suspected of driving under the influence of a narcotic.