Man on Bluff Holds Officers at Bay

A parolee described by his family as depressed and suicidal led police on an extended car chase Wednesday from the San Fernando Valley to an oceanside bluff in San Pedro, where he engaged in a three-hour standoff with scores of officers before four of them finally wrestled him out of his car.

Authorities identified the man as Thomas Belsheim, 36, who has a history of drug arrests and was released from prison a year ago. He was treated for minor injuries and booked on suspicion of hit and run, evading police and parole violation.

Police said the episode began about 11 a.m. when a patrol unit saw Belsheim leaving a Northridge neighborhood known for drug activity.

Suspicious, the officers began to follow Belsheim, who ran a red light and fled.

The patrol unit set off in pursuit, in the meantime learning that Belsheim was wanted for allegedly breaking into his parents’ Northridge home over the weekend and stealing various items, including a pellet gun.

Belsheim, in a 1987 Chrysler, headed for the San Diego Freeway, then the Ventura Freeway and finally the Harbor Freeway south to San Pedro. More police and the customary television news helicopters joined in the chase, which spilled onto San Pedro’s streets.

Belsheim sideswiped a car in one intersection and then, after driving through a palm-lined residential area, slammed into a guardrail on an ocean-side bluff on Paseo Del Mar, police said. A few yards away a cliff dropped more than 100 feet to the Santa Catalina Channel.

Moments after the car careened to a stop, Belsheim emerged holding what appeared to be a handgun. Then, reacting to the half-dozen squad cars lined up nearby, he immediately retreated to the car.

He remained there with the driver’s door and the trunk open for the next three hours, alternately crouched by the door and sitting on the front seat.

Police evacuated 20 nearby homes and called Belsheim’s father to the scene.

Belsheim smoked, gestured with his hands and held up pieces of paper as police tried to persuade him to surrender.

After he asked for a cell phone, officers in SWAT gear approached the car and tossed one to him. But he never retrieved it.

A bit later, police fired tear gas into Belsheim’s car and then, shortly before 3 p.m., four armor-suited officers walked up to the Chrysler.

When they saw Belsheim reach for his weapon--which turned out to be a 9-millimeter pellet gun--they fired a rubber bullet at him, striking him in the shoulder, and then pulled him from the car.

Police said Belsheim burglarized his parents’ home early Sunday while they were away for Thanksgiving, stealing a television, video cassette recorder, jewelry, cash and a pellet gun.

“My guess is that his intent was to buy drugs,” said LAPD Det. Tom Broad. “Methamphetamine was his drug of choice.”

After the burglary, Belsheim confessed his crime to his sister and provided her with pawn shop receipts so his father could retrieve his possessions, Broad said. The sister filed a complaint with police.

According to state parole officials, Belsheim’s prior convictions include illegal weapon possession and several drug charges.

Times staff writer Bettina Boxall contributed to this story.