Chase Leads to Crash of 2 Police Cars, 3 Arrests

An adult and two juveniles were arrested late Tuesday night after they fired on police during a chase through Logan Heights that ended with the crash of two squad cars, San Diego Police said.

The chase began after Sgt. Jack Lilly saw the car drive by with its lights off near Grant Hill Park, in the 2600 block of J Street, at about 9:45 p.m., police spokesman Dave Cohen said.

Lilly pulled the car over in the 2700 block of K Street and approached the three occupants, two teen-agers and a man later identified as Gabriel Medina, 18. But the officer stopped on his way to the vehicle.

“I didn’t go up to the driver’s window,” Lilly said. “Something didn’t feel quite right. I backed up a couple of steps and stood there, and they drove off eastbound.”

Police said the three are gang members who were plotting to shoot a rival when they were stopped.

As Lilly gave chase, one of the suspects, hanging out of the car window, fired at him, hitting the cruiser’s windshield and the light bar on top, Cohen said. Three or four shots were fired at Lilly, two of which struck his car.

The fleeing vehicle turned south onto 29th Street and crossed Imperial Avenue, striking a parked car in the 2900 block of the street. Lilly continued the chase on 31st Street, then turned east onto Franklin Avenue, where he was struck by the car of another police officer, who was also chasing the suspects.

“That effectively ended the pursuit,” Cohen said. Lilly was not injured, but the other officer, John Austin, complained of pain.

The car carrying the suspects, which had been stolen from Paradise Valley earlier that night, was found abandoned at 32nd Street and Martin Avenue. Police searched the area by helicopter and flushed the three suspects from a back yard in the 600 block of South Bancroft Street.

Medina was taken to County Jail downtown, where he was being held on suspicion of attempted murder and auto theft. No bail was set, and he was to be arraigned today in San Diego Municipal Court.

The two juveniles, 15 and 17 years old, were being held at Juvenile Hall.